JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 4,096,733 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. significantly increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 221.3%, owning approximately 2.83% of the company by the end of the first quarter.
• Columbia Banking System reported a quarterly revenue of $511.55 million, surpassing the consensus estimate, and achieved an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.76, exceeding expectations by $0.10.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 5.5%.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 221.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,947,950 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,096,733 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 2.83% of Columbia Banking System worth $148,342,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,625,834 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $341,024,000 after acquiring an additional 33,477 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,667,271 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $191,222,000 after acquiring an additional 351,375 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,514,816 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $148,956,000 after acquiring an additional 512,542 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,386,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,467,000 after acquiring an additional 44,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,150,641 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $53,637,000 after acquiring an additional 130,646 shares during the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on COLB shares. Wall Street Zen started coverage on Columbia Banking System in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Stephens raised Columbia Banking System from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Barclays lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $26.50 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.86.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of COLB traded up $0.0650 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $25.8350. The company had a trading volume of 340,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,962,706. The company has a market capitalization of $5.43 billion, a PE ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a one year low of $19.61 and a one year high of $32.85. The company's fifty day moving average price is $24.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.33.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $511.55 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $492.00 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 17.98%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. Analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. Columbia Banking System's payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Columbia Banking System Company Profile

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.