Sit Investment Associates Inc. Purchases New Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Sit Investment Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 31,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $840,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 122,274 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,303,000 after acquiring an additional 4,408 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 31,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $844,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the third quarter worth approximately $288,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,774,443 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $47,928,000 after purchasing an additional 42,527 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 391,286 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $10,592,000 after purchasing an additional 176,334 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COLB. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $35.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $32.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.00.

Insider Activity

In other Columbia Banking System news, VP Torran B. Nixon sold 4,481 shares of Columbia Banking System stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.99, for a total transaction of $116,461.19. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 104,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,725,545.31. This trade represents a 4.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.59% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB traded up $0.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.84. The stock had a trading volume of 1,918,761 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,789,821. The company's 50 day moving average is $25.12 and its 200-day moving average is $27.24. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $32.85. The company has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 0.53.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 17.99%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.91%. Columbia Banking System's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.69%.

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.