AIA Group Ltd Increases Stock Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,953 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of COLB. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 171.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Columbia Banking System by 36.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Columbia Banking System by 22,244.4% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 6,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 6,006 shares during the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Torran B. Nixon sold 4,481 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.99, for a total transaction of $116,461.19. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 104,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,725,545.31. The trade was a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on COLB shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Stephens dropped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.25.

Columbia Banking System Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of COLB stock opened at $24.75 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.54. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $32.85. The company has a market cap of $5.19 billion, a PE ratio of 9.74 and a beta of 0.62.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 17.99%. Equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.69%.

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.