New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 601,470 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 151,285 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.29% of Columbia Banking System worth $15,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of COLB. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 0.3% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 175,538 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,583,000 after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. Sippican Capital Advisors grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 111,172 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,903,000 after buying an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 14.0% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 2.9% in the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 25,111 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 718 shares during the period. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 85.1% in the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,219 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

COLB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stephens lifted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

NASDAQ COLB traded up $3.51 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $31.69. 4,624,029 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,290,231. The firm has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $26.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.80. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $31.74.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. The business had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. Columbia Banking System's payout ratio is currently 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.