Piper Sandler Increases Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Price Target to $36.00

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) had its target price raised by Piper Sandler from $32.00 to $36.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $43.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Cathay General Bancorp stock opened at $44.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.03. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $32.08 and a fifty-two week high of $45.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.41. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 1.13.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued 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 company had revenue of $178.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.19 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 22.08% and a return on equity of 12.04%. Cathay General Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 30th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 22,334 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 736,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,789,000 after acquiring an additional 28,968 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Cathay General Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,752,000. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 27.7% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaMark Advisors LLC now owns 8,723 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares in the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is 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.