Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Hits New 52-Week Low at $17.15

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) hit a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $17.15 and last traded at $17.17, with a volume of 97731 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COLB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. DA Davidson cut 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. UBS Group cut their target price on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $21.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com downgraded Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $36.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.42.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 0.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.66 billion, a PE ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.19.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.35). The company had revenue of $519.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.94 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 12.71%. The company’s revenue was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.93 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.23%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Elizabeth Whitehead Seaton bought 2,685 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.48 per share, for a total transaction of $49,618.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,018.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Elizabeth Whitehead Seaton purchased 2,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.48 per share, with a total value of $49,618.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 25,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,018.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Aaron James Deer purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.32 per share, for a total transaction of $38,640.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 36,850 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,942. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 35,133 shares of company stock worth $719,737 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,753,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,376,000 after acquiring an additional 123,120 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 65.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,791,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $402,508,000 after acquiring an additional 7,465,846 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 4.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,492,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,517,000 after acquiring an additional 390,004 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 3,669.2% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,094,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,405,000 after acquiring an additional 7,880,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,788,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,809,000 after acquiring an additional 700,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

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.