Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. Takes Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,018,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $26,593,000. Columbia Banking System comprises approximately 1.4% of Basswood Capital Management L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 144.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 1,380 shares during the last quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 137,166.7% during the second quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after purchasing an additional 4,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 44.1% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on COLB shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. Wedbush upped their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

COLB opened at $31.01 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.41 and its 200-day moving average is $24.21. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a one year low of $17.08 and a one year high of $32.85. The company has a market capitalization of $6.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.42 and a beta of 0.62.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. The company had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $478.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.64%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.34%.

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.