Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Price Target Lowered to $31.00 at Stephens

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) had its target price decreased by Stephens from $33.00 to $31.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on COLB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.38.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ COLB opened at $27.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.88. Columbia Banking System has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $32.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.67.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. Equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.15%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Columbia Banking System during the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 82.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,592,000 after buying an additional 176,334 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 15.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 716,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,712,000 after buying an additional 97,498 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 45.7% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 120,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,156,000 after buying an additional 37,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 439.5% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 79,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,086,000 after buying an additional 65,072 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.