Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,948,687 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,381,597 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 4.26% of Columbia Banking System worth $209,220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 194.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S purchased a new position in Columbia Banking System in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 53.5% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 38.1% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 51.3% in the second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on COLB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.38.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Columbia Banking System stock opened at $27.17 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.13. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.61 and a 1 year high of $32.85. The company has a market capitalization of $8.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 0.67.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $348.47 million during the quarter. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 11.31%. Equities analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.37 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. This is a boost from Columbia Banking System’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

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.