Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK) Short Interest Up 6.5% in March

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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 70,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 39.2 days. Currently, 10.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Columbia Financial Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Columbia Financial stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.06. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 71,091. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47. The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.74 and a beta of 0.21. Columbia Financial has a 1-year low of $14.11 and a 1-year high of $20.46. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.26.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Columbia Financial will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,678,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,275,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,317,000 after buying an additional 212,678 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,064,122 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,447,000 after buying an additional 203,738 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 724,910 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,672,000 after buying an additional 78,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 114.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 122,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,639,000 after buying an additional 65,377 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.72% of the company’s stock.

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.