JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Stock Holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 15.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 716,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 97,498 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $18,712,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 18.7% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 68,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,000 after buying an additional 10,776 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 58,406 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,162,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 6.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,191,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,153,000 after purchasing an additional 386,751 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 20.3% in the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 58,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 9,916 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Columbia Banking System during the 2nd quarter worth $1,547,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $33.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.31.

Columbia Banking System Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ COLB opened at $27.16 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 0.67. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.08 and a twelve month high of $32.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $26.04.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.34%.

Columbia Banking System Profile

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.