Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,770,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the March 15th total of 2,600,000 shares. Currently, 10.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 70,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 39.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Financial in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Financial by 36.0% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc acquired a new position in Columbia Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Columbia Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 21.3% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 4,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisor Group Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,812 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after acquiring an additional 559 shares during the last quarter. 12.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Columbia Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:CLBK opened at $15.96 on Thursday. Columbia Financial has a 12 month low of $14.11 and a 12 month high of $20.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.60 and a beta of 0.21.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $56.59 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.90 million. Columbia Financial had a return on equity of 4.94% and a net margin of 8.54%. On average, analysts expect that Columbia Financial will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Financial Company Profile

Columbia Financial, Inc, a bank holding company, provides various financial services to businesses and consumers in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, interest-earning checking products and municipal, savings and club deposits, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.