Wedbush Increases Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target to $50.00

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its price objective raised by Wedbush from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the bank’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Cathay General Bancorp’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.08 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $4.10 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $1.01 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.11 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.12 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $4.30 EPS.

CATY has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com raised Cathay General Bancorp from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $43.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY stock opened at $45.24 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a PE ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52-week low of $32.08 and a 52-week high of $45.88.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $178.53 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.19 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 30th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,563,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 10.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,058,670 shares of the bank’s stock worth $280,119,000 after acquiring an additional 749,370 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,850,356 shares of the bank’s stock worth $171,613,000 after acquiring an additional 150,331 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 861,364 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,391,000 after acquiring an additional 133,852 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the second quarter worth approximately $2,752,000. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

Cathay General Bancorp operates as the holding company for Cathay Bank that offers various commercial banking products and services to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in the United States. The company offers various deposit products, including passbook accounts, checking accounts, money market deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, and public funds deposits.