Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.34

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of 0.34 per share by the bank on Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th.

Cathay General Bancorp has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.3% per year over the last three years. Cathay General Bancorp has a dividend payout ratio of 28.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $4.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.36 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 28.6%.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of CATY opened at $45.74 on Tuesday. Cathay General Bancorp has a one year low of $33.88 and a one year high of $55.29. The company has a 50-day moving average of $47.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.49. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55 and a beta of 1.12.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.02. Cathay General Bancorp had a return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 20.57%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CATY has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stephens decreased their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.80.

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.