Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.19.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on COLB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. TheStreet cut Columbia Banking System from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB opened at $18.82 on Friday. Columbia Banking System has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $28.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.04 and a 200-day moving average of $21.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a PE ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 0.69.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $473.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $480.39 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 16.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 61.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 1,506.8% in the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,326 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Columbia Banking System during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 113.4% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Columbia Banking System Company Profile

Columbia Banking System, Inc operates as the holding company of Umpqua Bank that provides banking, private banking, mortgage, and other financial services in the United States. The company offers deposit products, including business, non-interest bearing checking, interest-bearing checking and savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts; and insured cash sweep and other investment sweep solutions.