Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) Short Interest Up 16.3% in February

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,140,000 shares, an increase of 16.3% from the February 13th total of 1,840,000 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 358,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.0 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cathay General Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 23,486 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Cathay General Bancorp by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 31,770 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 63.5% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 850 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 330 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its stake in Cathay General Bancorp by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 9,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cathay General Bancorp by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CATY. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $56.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stephens cut their price objective on shares of Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.80.

Cathay General Bancorp Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:CATY opened at $44.07 on Thursday. Cathay General Bancorp has a 52 week low of $33.88 and a 52 week high of $55.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.13 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $46.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 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 forecast that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cathay General Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. Cathay General Bancorp’s payout ratio is 34.34%.

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.