Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) Short Interest Update

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) was the target of a large growth in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 19,995,956 shares, a growth of 353.8% from the July 15th total of 4,406,616 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 14,044,754 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days. Approximately 9.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Columbia Financial Price Performance

CLBK stock traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $11.61. The company had a trading volume of 7,959,721 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,046,219. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.08. The company has a market capitalization of $2.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.61 and a beta of 0.23. Columbia Financial has a 1 year low of $6.21 and a 1 year high of $11.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $73.75 million during the quarter. Columbia Financial had a net margin of 11.19% and a return on equity of 5.29%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Columbia Financial will post 0.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.05 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Columbia Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CLBK. Wall Street Zen upgraded Columbia Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Columbia Financial in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Columbia Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.50.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Financial

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,384 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 702 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 459.9% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 65,178 shares of the company’s stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 53,537 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Financial by 32.5% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 24,390 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Financial by 6.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 34,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,000 after purchasing an additional 1,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 6.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 66,491 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,000 after buying an additional 4,080 shares during the period. 12.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.