Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK) Short Interest Up 6.5% in March

Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,770,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the March 15th total of 2,600,000 shares. Approximately 10.3% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 70,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 39.2 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Piper Sandler reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Columbia Financial in a report on Tuesday, March 26th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Financial

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Columbia Financial by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,630,379 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,090,000 after buying an additional 10,519 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Columbia Financial by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,779,807 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,815,000 after buying an additional 60,316 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Columbia Financial by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,683,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,452,000 after buying an additional 56,155 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Columbia Financial by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,073,570 shares of the company's stock worth $18,562,000 after purchasing an additional 9,448 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Financial by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 754,902 shares of the company's stock worth $13,800,000 after purchasing an additional 31,722 shares during the period. 12.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Columbia Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:CLBK traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.93. 64,945 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 71,810. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.51 and a beta of 0.21. Columbia Financial has a 52 week low of $14.11 and a 52 week high of $20.46. The firm's 50 day moving average is $16.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $56.59 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $54.90 million. Columbia Financial had a net margin of 8.54% and a return on equity of 4.94%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Columbia Financial will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current year.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc, a bank holding company, provides various financial services to businesses and consumers in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, interest-earning checking products and municipal, savings and club deposits, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.