Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Sets New 1-Year High Following Strong Earnings

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $28.15 and last traded at $28.08, with a volume of 1069572 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $27.08.

The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 15.94% and a return on equity of 10.89%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio is presently 61.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on COLB. Raymond James boosted their target price 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. Stephens upped their target price 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Columbia Banking System from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. Wedbush raised Columbia Banking System from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 27th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $25.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $63,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833,744 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 21.4% in the first quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,468,643 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $86,468,000 after purchasing an additional 788,383 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,327,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $432,041,000 after purchasing an additional 574,509 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 29.8% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,456,438 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,532,000 after buying an additional 563,674 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 333.8% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 639,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,711,000 after buying an additional 491,742 shares during the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.11.

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.