Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) released its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The bank reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.04), Yahoo Finance reports. Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 24.41% and a return on equity of 13.16%. The firm had revenue of $339.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $188.85 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS.

Cathay General Bancorp Price Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $34.89 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.84. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.12. Cathay General Bancorp has a 1 year low of $27.24 and a 1 year high of $45.72.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 27th. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CATY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cathay General Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $46.00 to $41.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.40.

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 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Cathay General Bancorp Company Profile

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.