Wells Fargo & Company Increases Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Price Target to $26.00

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on COLB. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wedbush reissued a neutral rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Columbia Banking System from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Wednesday, June 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $24.50.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COLB opened at $26.12 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.21 and a beta of 0.66. Columbia Banking System has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.81.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $472.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $476.01 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 15.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System will post 2.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.51%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.80%.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Banking System

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of COLB. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 46,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $923,000 after buying an additional 4,492 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 111.5% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 1,380 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 18,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 2,430 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,718,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $93,851,000 after acquiring an additional 23,963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 72.3% in the second quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 246,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,912,000 after purchasing an additional 103,625 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.