First Pacific Financial Purchases Shares of 1,504 Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

First Pacific Financial purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 11.0% during the third quarter. Keeley Teton Advisors LLC now owns 405,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,231,000 after acquiring an additional 40,215 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1,633.4% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 1,277,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,936,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203,933 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 32.5% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,939,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $79,980,000 after purchasing an additional 967,009 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 20,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $535,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 10.8% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,505,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,554,000 after purchasing an additional 147,011 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COLB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 12th. TheStreet cut Columbia Banking System from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Stephens cut Columbia Banking System from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $24.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $25.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Ron L. Farnsworth bought 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.71 per share, for a total transaction of $51,775.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 160,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,315,111.83. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Columbia Banking System news, CEO Clint Stein bought 9,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.96 per share, with a total value of $199,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,684 shares in the company, valued at $3,472,736.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ron L. Farnsworth purchased 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.71 per share, with a total value of $51,775.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 160,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,315,111.83. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 35,133 shares of company stock worth $719,737 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COLB opened at $19.10 on Thursday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.18 and a 1 year high of $28.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.37.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $519.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.94 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.54%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 87.27%.

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.