Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on COLB. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Columbia Banking System from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $27.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.36.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of COLB opened at $26.91 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $25.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.24. Columbia Banking System has a 12-month low of $19.61 and a 12-month high of $32.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.66 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 0.66.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period last year, the business posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 23.1% during the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 61,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 11,637 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 0.4% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 482,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,030,000 after acquiring an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 3.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 1,548 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 2.8% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 24,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 660 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 34.5% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Columbia Banking System Company 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.