Bleakley Financial Group LLC Buys 4,786 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 28.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,786 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 146,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,910,000 after buying an additional 25,771 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 43.8% during the fourth quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 23,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after purchasing an additional 7,256 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 55,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 8,653 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Columbia Banking System by 78.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 31,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $837,000 after buying an additional 13,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Pacific Financial purchased a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on COLB. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.04.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ COLB opened at $23.47 on Friday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.96. The company has a market cap of $4.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.66.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.12. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 16.52%. The business had revenue of $473.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $480.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.14%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is 61.80%.

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.