Wedbush Brokers Increase Earnings Estimates for Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) – Investment analysts at Wedbush upped their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note issued on Wednesday, March 27th. Wedbush analyst D. Chiaverini now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $0.67 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $0.56. Wedbush has a “Neutral” rating and a $24.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for Columbia Banking System’s current full-year earnings is $2.31 per share.

COLB has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group dropped their price target on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $21.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Raymond James lowered Columbia Banking System from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered Columbia Banking System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $30.00 to $25.00 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stephens lowered Columbia Banking System from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $31.00 to $24.00 in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.04.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 1.3 %

Columbia Banking System stock opened at $19.35 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.73 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.36. Columbia Banking System has a 12 month low of $17.18 and a 12 month high of $28.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $519.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $525.94 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.93 EPS.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Ron L. Farnsworth bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.71 per share, with a total value of $51,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 160,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,315,111.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director John F. Schultz bought 8,559 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.39 per share, with a total value of $174,518.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,870 shares in the company, valued at $853,729.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ron L. Farnsworth bought 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.71 per share, for a total transaction of $51,775.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 160,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,315,111.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have bought 35,133 shares of company stock valued at $719,737. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Banking System

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of COLB. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1,506.8% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 152.2% during the first quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 959 shares during the period. Finally, First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other 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.