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

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 13.16% and a net margin of 24.41%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Down 4.7 %

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $34.89 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $37.91 and its 200-day moving average is $38.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $27.24 and a 52 week high of $45.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.72 and a beta of 1.12.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 28th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis 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%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $304,150.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 204,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,885,525. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 4.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $44.00 price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial decreased 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 research report on Monday, April 1st. 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.40.

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.