Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Buys Shares of 1,018,481 Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,018,481 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $26,593,000. Columbia Banking System makes up 1.4% of Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. owned 0.49% of Columbia Banking System at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of COLB. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System during the second quarter worth $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 144.0% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 111.5% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares in the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 137,166.7% during the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,118 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 4,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 44.1% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,058 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on COLB shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

COLB stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Monday, reaching $31.14. 699,156 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,216,792. The company has a 50-day moving average of $28.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.24. The company has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.08 and a twelve month high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $478.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.34%.

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.