Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Decreases Stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,083 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,556 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1,506.8% in the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326 shares during the period. First Pacific Financial acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System during the 4th quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 4th quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of COLB stock opened at $19.67 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.69. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a one year low of $17.08 and a one year high of $28.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.19.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.32%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Raymond James downgraded Columbia Banking System from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Stephens cut Columbia Banking System from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.19.

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.