Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB Position Raised by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 108.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 132,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,873 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $3,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System during the second quarter valued at approximately $880,443,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 13,549,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,656,000 after purchasing an additional 408,087 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $120,867,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $68,906,000. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $68,245,000. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Key Columbia Banking System News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings and revenue exceeded expectations. Columbia reported adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share versus the $0.77 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $702 million, above the $687.7 million forecast. Revenue increased 19.4% year over year. Columbia Banking Q3 earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Profitability improved materially. Net income rose to $220 million, or $0.78 per diluted share, from $96 million a year earlier. Net interest income increased $26 million sequentially to $615 million, and net interest margin expanded 18 basis points to 4.11%. Deposits also grew to $52.74 billion from $52.06 billion in the prior quarter. Columbia Banking Q3 net income report
• Positive Sentiment: Capital returns are a major catalyst. The bank repurchased $199 million of common stock during the quarter, completed its previous authorization and approved a new buyback of up to $1.2 billion with no expiration date. Columbia also maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.37 per share. Columbia Banking System third-quarter results
• Positive Sentiment: RBC raised its price target to $34 from $32. Although the firm retained a “sector perform” rating, the higher target implies additional upside from the current trading level. Royal Bank of Canada analyst recommendation
• Neutral Sentiment: Columbia reported third-quarter net charge-offs, but the available announcement does not provide enough detail to determine whether credit quality improved or deteriorated. Columbia Banking net charge-offs report
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted earnings of $0.82 per share declined from $0.85 in the year-earlier quarter, meaning the results were strong relative to estimates but not across every year-over-year earnings measure.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on COLB shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 5th. DA Davidson raised Columbia Banking System from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.38.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

COLB stock opened at $30.85 on Friday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.12 and a 1-year high of $33.67. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.66.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.69% and a net margin of 22.83%. The firm had revenue of $702.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $687.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 28th were issued a dividend of $0.37 per share. This represents a $1.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 28th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.96%.

About Columbia Banking System

Columbia Banking System, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Tacoma, Washington. It operates through Umpqua Bank, a full-service financial institution serving consumers, businesses, professionals and institutions.

Umpqua Bank provides deposit accounts, residential and commercial lending, business banking, treasury and cash-management services, mortgage banking, personal banking and wealth-management solutions. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, commercial real estate and business loans, consumer credit, online and mobile banking, and investment and advisory services.

Columbia Banking System traces its roots to the formation of Columbia State Bank in Washington in 1993.