Vanguard Group Inc. Has $532.57 Million Stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,353,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,162 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.16% of Columbia Banking System worth $532,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of COLB. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,625,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $341,024,000 after purchasing an additional 33,477 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,514,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $148,956,000 after purchasing an additional 512,542 shares in the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,386,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,467,000 after purchasing an additional 44,278 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 6.5% in the first quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,150,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,637,000 after purchasing an additional 130,646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,109,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,986,000 after purchasing an additional 428,776 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on COLB. Stephens raised shares of Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, August 4th. Wall Street Zen began coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered 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. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.86.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of COLB stock opened at $26.14 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $24.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.41. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a PE ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $511.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $492.00 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Columbia Banking System Profile

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.