Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Raised to “Hold” at Benchmark

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Benchmark to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CATY. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $49.50 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research lowered Cathay General Bancorp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Stephens upped their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cathay General Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.25.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $61.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 0.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $62.60 and a 200-day moving average of $58.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $44.57 and a 12-month high of $65.25.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.66% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The company had revenue of $221.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.28 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 5.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 1,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.47, for a total transaction of $99,952.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 2,362 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $147,554.14. This trade represents a 40.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard Sun sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.31, for a total value of $1,266,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 7,315 shares in the company, valued at approximately $463,112.65. This represents a 73.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,600 shares of company stock worth $1,996,362. Company insiders own 4.53% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cathay General Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth $604,644,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $41,140,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $40,799,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1,274,076.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 484,187 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,430,000 after purchasing an additional 484,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $26,052,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cathay General Bancorp

Cathay General Bancorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its principal subsidiary, Cathay Bank, is a full-service commercial bank established in 1962 to serve the financial needs of Chinese American communities. Cathay General Bancorp was formed as the bank’s holding company in 1990.

Cathay Bank provides a range of banking and financial services for businesses, individuals and institutions. Its offerings include commercial and residential real estate loans, commercial and industrial financing, Small Business Administration loans, consumer lending, deposit accounts, cash-management services, online and mobile banking, and wealth-management solutions.

The company primarily serves customers in major metropolitan areas across California and in selected markets in New York, Texas, Washington, Nevada, Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts.