Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Raised to Outperform at Wedbush

Wedbush upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Wedbush currently has $31.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $28.00. Wedbush also issued estimates for Columbia Banking System’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.68 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $2.75 EPS.

COLB has been the topic of several other research reports. Stephens upped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler restated an overweight rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $25.42.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

NASDAQ COLB opened at $25.97 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.06. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 0.64. Columbia Banking System has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $28.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 15.94%. The business had revenue of $472.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $476.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.55 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, September 9th. Investors of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.54%. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 61.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ariadne Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System during the 2nd quarter valued at $252,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 135.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 111,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,208,000 after purchasing an additional 63,932 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 42,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 11,836 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 321,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,402,000 after purchasing an additional 18,708 shares during the period. Finally, Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $307,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

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.