Royal Bank Of Canada Raises Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Price Target to $32.00

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $30.00 to $32.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 10.80% from the stock’s current price.

COLB has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Columbia Banking System to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 27th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COLB opened at $28.88 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.62. The company has a market cap of $8.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78 and a beta of 0.60. Columbia Banking System has a 12 month low of $19.61 and a 12 month high of $31.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.10. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.11% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The business had revenue of $715.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $693.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 41.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,851,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $768,375,000 after purchasing an additional 8,730,937 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 135.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,782,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $354,754,000 after buying an additional 7,921,303 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,407,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $345,113,000 after buying an additional 3,290,560 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,116,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $337,611,000 after buying an additional 5,313,883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 11.9% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,016,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $257,816,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Columbia Banking System

Here are the key news stories impacting Columbia Banking System this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat on both EPS and revenue — COLB reported $0.82 EPS vs. $0.72 consensus and $715M revenue, driven by revenue growth and lower provisions. This supports earnings momentum. Press Release
• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition tailwinds — the Pacific Premier deal contributed its first full quarter, boosting revenue and offering expected cost‑savings/synergy opportunities highlighted in coverage. COLB Q4 deep dive
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts lifted targets and forecasts after the results — DA Davidson bumped its PT to $32.50 (neutral) and RBC raised its PT to $32 (sector perform), signaling modest upside from current levels. DA Davidson PT raise RBC PT raise
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor resources published (earnings call transcript, slide deck) allowing deeper review of metrics like ROE (11.13%) and net margin (15.98%) for modeling and due diligence. Earnings call transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Rising operating expenses and integration costs were highlighted in coverage; higher expenses may pressure near‑term margins despite revenue gains. This appears to be weighing on sentiment. Zacks: expenses rose
• Negative Sentiment: High trading volume on the decline suggests profit‑taking after the beat; coupled with mostly neutral/sector‑perform analyst stances, upside may be capped near-term. (Market volume data referenced in trading summary.) MarketBeat earnings summary

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc is a bank holding company that operates through its principal subsidiary, Columbia State Bank. Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, the company provides a full range of banking and financial services to commercial, small business and consumer customers. Its branch network is concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, with locations across Washington, Oregon and Idaho, where it aims to combine local decision-making with the resources of a larger institution.

The company’s offerings include commercial real estate lending, construction and development financing, equipment and small business loans, and deposit products such as checking, savings and money market accounts.