Easterly Investment Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 103.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 502,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 255,578 shares during the period. Columbia Banking System makes up 1.1% of Easterly Investment Partners LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned about 0.24% of Columbia Banking System worth $13,122,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,327,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $432,041,000 after acquiring an additional 574,509 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 6.7% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,191,704 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $123,153,000 after acquiring an additional 386,751 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,718,494 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $93,851,000 after acquiring an additional 23,963 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 21.4% during the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,468,643 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $86,468,000 after acquiring an additional 788,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $63,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,833,744 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company's stock.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of COLB stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Friday, reaching $30.48. 1,444,452 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,288,927. The company has a market capitalization of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's 50-day moving average is $26.33 and its 200 day moving average is $22.91. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $31.74.

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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Columbia Banking System's payout ratio is currently 62.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Columbia Banking System from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. Stephens upped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.12.

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.