Nordea Investment Management AB Boosts Stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 82.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 391,286 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 176,334 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.19% of Columbia Banking System worth $10,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 15.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 716,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $18,712,000 after buying an additional 97,498 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 43,184 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the third quarter valued at approximately $288,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 17.0% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 11,859 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,727 shares during the period. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 8.1% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,607 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $721,000 after purchasing an additional 2,072 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

COLB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Wedbush upped their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $29.31.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

NASDAQ COLB traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $27.16. 1,084,473 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,187,335. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.08 and a 52-week high of $32.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.04. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.67.

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

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio is presently 62.34%.

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.