Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by purchasing an additional 25,162 shares, bringing its total ownership to over 21 million shares, representing 10.16% of the company's stock worth approximately $532 million.
• Columbia Banking System reported $0.76 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst estimates, with revenue rising 8.2% year-over-year to $511.55 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $1.44 and a dividend yield of 5.6%.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 0.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 21,353,837 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 25,162 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.16% of Columbia Banking System worth $532,565,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 33,477 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 valued at $148,956,000 after acquiring an additional 512,542 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 6.5% in 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. raised its stake in Columbia Banking System by 25.5% in the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,109,817 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $56,986,000 after purchasing an additional 428,776 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on COLB shares. Stephens raised shares of Columbia Banking System from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, August 4th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Raymond James Financial set a $27.00 price objective on Columbia Banking System and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen began coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $28.86.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of COLB traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $25.60. The company had a trading volume of 645,091 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,965,734. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.16 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $24.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.35. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.61 and a 52-week high of $32.85.

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

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.6%. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.