Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB Shares Acquired by LPL Financial LLC

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 42.2% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 137,496 shares valued at $3.43 million.
• Columbia Banking System reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.76, surpassing analyst expectations of $0.66, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 8.2%.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, representing an annualized yield of 5.6%, to be paid on September 15.

LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 42.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 137,496 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 40,826 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.07% of Columbia Banking System worth $3,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,625,834 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $341,024,000 after buying an additional 33,477 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,514,816 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $148,956,000 after purchasing an additional 512,542 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,386,773 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $64,467,000 after purchasing an additional 44,278 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 6.5% during the first quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,150,641 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $53,637,000 after purchasing an additional 130,646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,109,817 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $56,986,000 after purchasing an additional 428,776 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on COLB shares. 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 note on Tuesday, July 1st. 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. Zacks Research upgraded Columbia Banking System to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.86.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 0.8%

COLB traded down $0.20 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.61. 1,919,225 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,579,880. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $19.61 and a 1-year high of $32.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $24.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.35.

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 company had revenue of $511.55 million for 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 firm's revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts predict 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, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Columbia Banking System's payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

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.