Columbia Banking System, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.36 (NASDAQ:COLB)

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 16th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, June 16th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.76%.

Columbia Banking System has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. Columbia Banking System has a payout ratio of 47.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.89 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.8%.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

NASDAQ:COLB opened at $25.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.59. Columbia Banking System has a one year low of $18.11 and a one year high of $32.85. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $23.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.63.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $481.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $482.86 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.21% and a net margin of 17.99%. Columbia Banking System’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.65 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Columbia Banking System

In other Columbia Banking System news, VP Torran B. Nixon sold 4,481 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 104,869 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,725,545.31. This represents a 4.10% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 56,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 14,824 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 82,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 15,845 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 28.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 492,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,290,000 after acquiring an additional 108,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 572.7% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 484,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,089,000 after acquiring an additional 412,674 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on COLB. DA Davidson set a $25.00 price objective on Columbia Banking System and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James set a $27.00 price target on Columbia Banking System and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Ten equities research 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 company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.85.

Columbia Banking System Company 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.