Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,780,000 shares, a growth of 7.1% from the November 30th total of 3,530,000 shares. Approximately 13.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 454,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on COLM. TD Cowen increased their target price on Columbia Sportswear from $70.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Columbia Sportswear from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Sportswear currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.75.

Columbia Sportswear Stock Performance

Shares of Columbia Sportswear stock traded up $1.27 during trading on Thursday, reaching $85.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 14,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,655. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.04. Columbia Sportswear has a one year low of $73.04 and a one year high of $91.30. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.94.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $931.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $937.17 million. Columbia Sportswear had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 6.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Sportswear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Columbia Sportswear’s payout ratio is 33.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,773,584 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $147,544,000 after buying an additional 292,716 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Columbia Sportswear by 4.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,195,386 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $94,530,000 after purchasing an additional 56,348 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Columbia Sportswear by 153.3% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 616,110 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $48,722,000 after purchasing an additional 372,886 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Columbia Sportswear by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 604,824 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $50,328,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 550,622 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $45,806,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758 shares during the period. 47.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Columbia Sportswear Company Profile

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities.