Bank of America Corp DE Sells 258,946 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Bank of America Corp DE lessened its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 938,645 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 258,946 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned 0.45% of Columbia Banking System worth $25,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 34.9% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 73,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,981,000 after acquiring an additional 18,994 shares during the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 38.7% in the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 12,747 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,559 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 22.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,768,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,766,000 after acquiring an additional 329,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter worth $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Columbia Banking System

In other news, VP Torran B. Nixon sold 4,481 shares of Columbia Banking System stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.99, for a total transaction of $116,461.19. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 104,869 shares in the company, valued at $2,725,545.31. The trade was a 4.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.68% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on COLB shares. Barclays raised their target price on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Columbia Banking System in a research report on Wednesday. They issued a "hold" rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Stephens reduced their target price on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.64.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COLB traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.59. 1,898,309 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,784,341. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.11 and a 12 month high of $32.85. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 9.29 and a beta of 0.59. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $23.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.46.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $481.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $482.86 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 17.99%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.65 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.10%. Columbia Banking System's payout ratio is currently 61.02%.

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.