Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Hits New 52-Week Low at $17.15

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) shares hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $17.15 and last traded at $17.17, with a volume of 97731 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $17.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on COLB shares. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.42.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.71. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.19.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $519.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.94 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 12.71%. The company’s revenue was up 52.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.93 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.25 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is presently 87.27%.

Insider Transactions at Columbia Banking System

In other Columbia Banking System news, Director John F. Schultz purchased 8,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $174,518.01. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $853,729.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Columbia Banking System news, Director John F. Schultz purchased 8,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $174,518.01. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 41,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $853,729.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Aaron James Deer bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.32 per share, for a total transaction of $38,640.00. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 36,850 shares in the company, valued at approximately $711,942. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 35,133 shares of company stock worth $719,737 in the last 90 days. 0.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,753,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,376,000 after buying an additional 123,120 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 65.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,791,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,508,000 after buying an additional 7,465,846 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,492,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,517,000 after buying an additional 390,004 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3,669.2% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,094,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,405,000 after buying an additional 7,880,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,788,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,809,000 after buying an additional 700,643 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

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.