Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 808 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System during the 1st quarter valued at $2,850,000. Channing Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System during the 4th quarter valued at $3,955,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 185.1% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 173,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,363,000 after buying an additional 112,826 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 81.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 52,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 23,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,327,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,041,000 after buying an additional 574,509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COLB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.04.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 2.7 %

NASDAQ:COLB traded up $0.64 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $23.97. 84,310 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,470,378. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.01 and a beta of 0.65. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.82.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $472.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $476.01 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 15.94% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.51 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.80%.

About Columbia Banking System

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.