Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Stock Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Brokerages

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $33.75.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised shares of Columbia Banking System from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Banking System

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in COLB. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC now owns 45,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,468,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 25.8% during the first quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 0.6% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 71,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,949,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 7,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Henshaw Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Henshaw Capital LLC now owns 34,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 477 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Columbia Banking System stock opened at $29.06 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $8.22 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System has a 52 week low of $23.83 and a 52 week high of $33.67. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.02.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by $0.03. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.33% and a net margin of 19.96%.The firm had revenue of $677.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $687.40 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th were paid a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is presently 58.96%.

Columbia Banking System Company Profile

Columbia Banking System, Inc is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Tacoma, Washington. Through its principal subsidiary, Columbia Bank, the company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses, professionals and public-sector organizations.

Its products and services include consumer and commercial deposit accounts, residential and commercial real estate lending, business loans, lines of credit, treasury management, wealth management, mortgage services and digital banking.