Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Shares Bought by Inspire Advisors LLC

Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 36.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,926 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $2,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of COLB. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,249,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 158.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,851,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,001,000 after buying an additional 1,134,544 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at about $22,476,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,514,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $148,956,000 after purchasing an additional 512,542 shares during the period. Finally, Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 2,109,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,986,000 after purchasing an additional 428,776 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $27.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $27.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.50 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.79.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 6.3%

Shares of Columbia Banking System stock opened at $24.82 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.61 and a 52 week high of $32.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $23.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.74.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $511.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $492.00 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 11.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 30th. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

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.