Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Upgraded at Wells Fargo & Company

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $35.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $33.00.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 5th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.31.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB opened at $27.16 on Monday. Columbia Banking System has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $32.85. The business’s 50-day moving average is $29.30 and its 200-day moving average is $26.03. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.67.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.30%. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is currently 62.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,866,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 82.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,592,000 after purchasing an additional 176,334 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 716,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,712,000 after buying an additional 97,498 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 43,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 464 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Columbia Banking System in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

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.