Easterly Investment Partners LLC Has $4.91 Million Stock Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 72.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 246,973 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 103,625 shares during the quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Columbia Banking System worth $4,912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 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 buying an additional 574,509 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,788,928 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $207,809,000 after buying an additional 700,643 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,578,618 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $122,158,000 after buying an additional 637,212 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in 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, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,777,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $74,109,000 after acquiring an additional 36,507 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 7.0 %

Shares of COLB traded up $1.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $24.97. 2,251,127 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,445,267. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.04. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.11. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 0.65.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 15.94% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $472.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $476.01 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.77%. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.80%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on COLB. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Stephens increased 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 note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $25.04.

Columbia Banking System 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.

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