Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 24,503 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Columbia Banking System by 23.1%, selling 24,503 shares, resulting in a new total of 81,550 shares valued at approximately $2,034,000.
• Columbia Banking System reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.76 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates of $0.66, along with a revenue increase of 8.2% year-over-year.
• The company's recent dividend announcement provided a payout of $0.36 per share, leading to a 6.1% dividend yield based on an annualized amount of $1.44.

Natixis Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 23.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 81,550 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,503 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $2,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew 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 valued at $341,024,000 after acquiring an additional 33,477 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 valued at $148,956,000 after purchasing an additional 512,542 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,456,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $66,363,000 after purchasing an additional 209,774 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP raised its position 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 valued at $53,637,000 after purchasing an additional 130,646 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $26.50 to $24.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Stephens raised Columbia Banking System from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.86.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of COLB opened at $23.65 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.97 billion, a PE ratio of 9.38 and a beta of 0.62. The company's fifty day moving average is $23.84 and its 200 day moving average is $24.52. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.61 and a fifty-two week high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $511.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $492.00 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.1%. Columbia Banking System's payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Columbia Banking System 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.

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