Columbia Banking System, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.36 (NASDAQ:COLB)

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, May 13th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th will be given a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 10th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 23rd.

Columbia Banking System has raised its dividend by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. Columbia Banking System has a dividend payout ratio of 55.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.8%.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 0.9 %

COLB stock traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.40. The stock had a trading volume of 2,018,411 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,792,709. The firm has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $18.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.20. Columbia Banking System has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $28.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.12. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.58%. The company had revenue of $473.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $480.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.44 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COLB. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $21.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.19.

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.