Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) Now Covered by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Brean Capital cut Columbia Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $19.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Columbia Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.50.

Columbia Financial Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ CLBK opened at $17.47 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.26 and a beta of 0.20. Columbia Financial has a 52 week low of $12.64 and a 52 week high of $18.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $17.21 and a 200-day moving average of $16.08.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.15. The business had revenue of $68.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.20 million. Columbia Financial had a return on equity of 4.69% and a net margin of 10.19%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Columbia Financial will post 0.43 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CLBK. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Columbia Financial by 297.5% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 146,678 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,128,000 after buying an additional 109,780 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 76.1% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 177,198 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,571,000 after buying an additional 76,560 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Columbia Financial by 132.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 121,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,764,000 after buying an additional 69,171 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Columbia Financial by 61.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 179,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,783,000 after buying an additional 68,162 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 109.7% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 126,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,900,000 after acquiring an additional 66,238 shares during the last quarter. 12.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for Columbia Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Through its principal subsidiary, Columbia Bank, the company offers a comprehensive suite of retail and commercial banking products and services. These offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and mortgage lending, commercial real estate financing, and business banking solutions tailored to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

On the consumer side, Columbia Bank provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans.