Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 5,000 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 4.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers owned about 0.06% of Columbia Banking System worth $2,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COLB. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 141.3% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 958 shares during the period. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Financial Harvest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $118,000. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on COLB shares. Stephens upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $27.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Columbia Banking System in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “hold” rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.86.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

COLB stock opened at $24.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.59 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.61 and a fifty-two week high of $32.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $23.84 and a 200-day moving average of $24.56.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.10. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 17.98%. The firm had revenue of $511.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $492.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.0%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

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.