Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Raised to “Overweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $35.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $33.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 28.68% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on COLB. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.31.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of COLB stock opened at $27.20 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $29.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 0.67. Columbia Banking System has a 12 month low of $17.08 and a 12 month high of $32.85.

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

Institutional Trading of Columbia Banking System

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of COLB. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 2.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,109,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,623,000 after purchasing an additional 178,327 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,659,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,873,000 after buying an additional 1,611,563 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Columbia Banking System by 6.7% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,191,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,153,000 after acquiring an additional 386,751 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 2,330,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,346,000 after acquiring an additional 36,867 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.