DA Davidson Has Bearish Estimate for CATY FY2025 Earnings

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) – Research analysts at DA Davidson dropped their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Cathay General Bancorp in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst G. Tenner now expects that the bank will post earnings of $4.33 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $4.35. The consensus estimate for Cathay General Bancorp’s current full-year earnings is $3.99 per share.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.95 by ($0.01). Cathay General Bancorp had a net margin of 20.57% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The firm had revenue of $359.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $182.70 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS.

CATY has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens raised shares of Cathay General Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.75.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ CATY opened at $48.13 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.12 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Cathay General Bancorp has a 12-month low of $33.88 and a 12-month high of $55.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP increased its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 76.3% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 765 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $40,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Cathay General Bancorp by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,517 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 24.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Cathay General Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Thomas M. Lo sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.00, for a total transaction of $42,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $157,873. This trade represents a 21.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Vice Chairman Peter Wu sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.87, for a total transaction of $2,114,800.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 295,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,609,973.24. This represents a 11.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,189 shares of company stock valued at $2,500,047 in the last 90 days. 4.76% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cathay General Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 27th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. Cathay General Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.26%.

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.