Wedbush Analysts Lower Earnings Estimates for Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) – Analysts at Wedbush decreased their Q2 2024 EPS estimates for Cathay General Bancorp in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now anticipates that the bank will earn $0.90 per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of $1.03. Wedbush currently has a “Outperform” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $4.00 per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Cathay General Bancorp’s Q3 2024 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $1.04 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $4.00 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $1.03 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $1.10 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $1.12 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target 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. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.40.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

CATY opened at $34.89 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.84. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $27.24 and a twelve month high of $45.72. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.04). Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 27.02%. The business had revenue of $339.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.32 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 1st quarter worth about $586,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,254,816 shares of the bank’s stock worth $367,917,000 after buying an additional 196,146 shares during the last quarter. Willner & Heller LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth about $2,014,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 861,364 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,391,000 after buying an additional 133,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 128.8% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 96,924 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,320,000 after buying an additional 54,557 shares during the last quarter. 75.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cathay General Bancorp news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total transaction of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.76% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.98%.

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.