Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Receives $29.00 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.31.

COLB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 0.1 %

Columbia Banking System stock opened at $27.16 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.04. Columbia Banking System has a twelve month low of $17.08 and a twelve month high of $32.85. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.67.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. The company had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.30%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.34%.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Banking System

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of COLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833,744 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 31.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,659,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611,563 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,593,000. Holocene Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1,001.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 962,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,126,000 after buying an additional 874,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Columbia Banking System by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,263,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,099,000 after buying an additional 562,467 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

About Columbia Banking System

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.