Cathay General Bancorp to Post FY2025 Earnings of $4.25 Per Share, Wedbush Forecasts (NASDAQ:CATY)

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) – Stock analysts at Wedbush decreased their FY2025 earnings estimates for Cathay General Bancorp in a report released on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now forecasts that the bank will earn $4.25 per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $4.85. Wedbush has a “Outperform” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $3.94 per share.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 22nd. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.85 million. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.02% and a net margin of 24.41%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on CATY. 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 research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $40.00 to $38.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $35.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.04. The company has a fifty day moving average of $37.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 7.75 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $27.24 and a fifty-two week high of $45.72.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CATY. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,302 shares of the bank’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 1.6% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,620 shares of the bank’s stock worth $682,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 16.0% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 2.6% during the third quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 21,478 shares of the bank’s stock worth $747,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the period. Finally, Pathstone Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.2% during the third quarter. Pathstone Family Office LLC now owns 17,103 shares of the bank’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cathay General Bancorp

In related news, Vice Chairman Anthony M. Tang sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.45, for a total value of $304,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,885,525. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 28th were issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

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.