Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CLBK. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods assumed coverage on Columbia Financial in a research report on Monday, August 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $14.50 price objective for the company. New Street Research set a $14.00 target price on Columbia Financial in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Columbia Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Columbia Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $14.00 price target on shares of Columbia Financial in a report on Monday, August 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.10.

Columbia Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:CLBK opened at $11.79 on Friday. Columbia Financial has a 52 week low of $6.21 and a 52 week high of $12.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15 and a beta of 0.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $16.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.79.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $73.75 million during the quarter. Columbia Financial had a return on equity of 5.29% and a net margin of 11.19%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Columbia Financial will post 0.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.05 per share. This represents a $0.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. Columbia Financial’s payout ratio is 58.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 2,322.2% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 2,508 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in Columbia Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Columbia Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $120,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in Columbia Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $168,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 73.1% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,000 after purchasing an additional 5,119 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.72% of the company’s stock.

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.