Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) to Issue $0.34 Quarterly Dividend

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid 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 2.92%.

Cathay General Bancorp has raised its dividend by an average of 2.3% annually over the last three years. Cathay General Bancorp has a payout ratio of 29.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Cathay General Bancorp to earn $4.48 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 30.4%.

Cathay General Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CATY opened at $46.58 on Friday. Cathay General Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.88 and a twelve month high of $55.29. The firm has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $47.86 and a 200-day moving average of $46.22.

Cathay General Bancorp (NASDAQ:CATY) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The bank reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 predict that Cathay General Bancorp will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CATY. Stephens lowered their target price on Cathay General Bancorp from $60.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $45.00 to $43.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on 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, Wedbush lifted their price objective on Cathay General Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.80.

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.