Baird Financial Group Inc. Purchases 1,634 Shares of Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM)

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) by 144.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,767 shares of the textile maker’s stock after buying an additional 1,634 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Sportswear were worth $232,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COLM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Columbia Sportswear in the fourth quarter valued at $25,710,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 447.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 294,471 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $24,715,000 after buying an additional 240,709 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 271,293 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $22,770,000 after buying an additional 225,140 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 884,731 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $74,255,000 after buying an additional 134,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,207,605 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $101,355,000 after buying an additional 109,488 shares in the last quarter. 47.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COLM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (down from $80.00) on shares of Columbia Sportswear in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Columbia Sportswear from $64.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of Columbia Sportswear from $91.00 to $75.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Columbia Sportswear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Columbia Sportswear from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Insider Activity at Columbia Sportswear

In related news, EVP Richelle T. Luther sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.36, for a total value of $369,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,319,177.88. The trade was a 21.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Stephen E. Babson sold 2,776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.94, for a total value of $183,049.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 128,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,460,695.46. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 44.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Columbia Sportswear Stock Performance

Shares of Columbia Sportswear stock opened at $66.70 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.09 and a 200-day moving average of $79.79. The stock has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.00. Columbia Sportswear has a 52-week low of $58.44 and a 52-week high of $92.88.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The textile maker reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $778.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.50 million. Columbia Sportswear had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Columbia Sportswear’s quarterly revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Columbia Sportswear will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Sportswear Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. Columbia Sportswear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.69%.

Columbia Sportswear Company Profile

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities.