Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.02, Zacks reports. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of CATY opened at $46.89 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $49.42 and a 200-day moving average of $45.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 1.13. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $33.88 and a 1 year high of $55.29.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stephens cut their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cathay General Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.40.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 7,289 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.05, for a total value of $342,947.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 347,963 shares in the company, valued at $16,371,659.15. The trade was a 2.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total value of $42,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $157,873. The trade was a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,189 shares of company stock worth $2,500,047 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

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.