Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $44.59, but opened at $46.28. Cathay General Bancorp shares last traded at $44.37, with a volume of 31,796 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CATY shares. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised Cathay General Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One 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 MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.71. 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 (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $359.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $182.70 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 11.96% and a net margin of 22.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 29th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cathay General Bancorp

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total value of $903,800.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Chairman Dunson K. Cheng sold 12,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.79, for a total value of $555,440.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 149,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,699,061.14. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.19, for a total transaction of $903,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 355,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,053,837.88. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Access Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.1% in the second quarter. Access Investment Management LLC now owns 20,520 shares of the bank’s stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,327 shares of the bank’s stock worth $729,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cathay General Bancorp

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.