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

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th.

Columbia Banking System has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.1% per year over the last three years. Columbia Banking System has a dividend payout ratio of 50.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.88 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 50.0%.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of COLB traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $27.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 902,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,350,498. Columbia Banking System has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $32.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.24.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.99% and a return on equity of 11.21%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Columbia Banking System will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on COLB. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Columbia Banking System from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group began coverage on Columbia Banking System in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.38.

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.