Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Shares Sold by Shelton Capital Management

Shelton Capital Management decreased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 592 shares during the quarter. Shelton Capital Management’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in COLB. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,456,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,363,000 after acquiring an additional 209,774 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 42,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 2,565 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 142,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,838,000 after buying an additional 32,438 shares during the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 263,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,104,000 after buying an additional 20,618 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Torran B. Nixon sold 4,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.99, for a total value of $116,461.19. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 104,869 shares in the company, valued at $2,725,545.31. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COLB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens decreased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays decreased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $35.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

NASDAQ COLB opened at $20.84 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $27.24. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.20 and a beta of 0.53. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced 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, research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is currently 56.69%.

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.