Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Stock Price

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $34.00 to $33.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Ten 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.23.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COLB opened at $27.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.70. Columbia Banking System has a fifty-two week low of $17.08 and a fifty-two week high of $32.85.

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

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 54.9% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 1,507.6% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 4,553 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 5,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 1,091 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 14.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.