Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) Upgraded by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to Moderate Buy Rating

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. New Street Research set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Financial in a research note on Monday. Capital One Financial set a $14.00 target price on shares of Columbia Financial in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler raised shares of Columbia Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $19.00 to $14.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Columbia Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Columbia Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $15.10.

Columbia Financial Stock Performance

CLBK opened at $11.68 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a PE ratio of 34.82 and a beta of 0.23. Columbia Financial has a 1 year low of $6.21 and a 1 year high of $12.00.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter. Columbia Financial had a return on equity of 5.29% and a net margin of 11.19%.The firm had revenue of $73.75 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts forecast that Columbia Financial will post 0.48 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $44,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 2,322.2% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,616 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 2,508 shares during the last quarter. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in Columbia Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $120,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new position in Columbia Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $168,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Columbia Financial by 73.1% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 5,119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.72% of the company’s stock.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for Columbia Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Through its principal subsidiary, Columbia Bank, the company offers a comprehensive suite of retail and commercial banking products and services. These offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and mortgage lending, commercial real estate financing, and business banking solutions tailored to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

On the consumer side, Columbia Bank provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans.