Raymond James & Associates Sells 108,203 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Raymond James & Associates reduced its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 29.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 261,189 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 108,203 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.12% of Columbia Banking System worth $6,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,850,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 185.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 173,776 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,363,000 after purchasing an additional 112,826 shares in the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 81.4% during the 2nd quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 52,594 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,046,000 after buying an additional 23,597 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,327,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $432,041,000 after buying an additional 574,509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 420,374 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $8,135,000 after buying an additional 29,728 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on COLB. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stephens upped their price target on 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. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Columbia Banking System stock traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $28.51. 1,101,368 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,288,994. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.08 and a 12 month high of $29.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.47.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 15.94%. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $478.80 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.34%.

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.