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

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th.

Columbia Banking System has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% annually over the last three years. Columbia Banking System has a payout ratio of 53.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.72 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 52.9%.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

COLB stock opened at $31.72 on Wednesday. Columbia Banking System has a fifty-two week low of $17.08 and a fifty-two week high of $32.85. The company has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.92.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.12.

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.