Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday morning.

COLB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Stephens downgraded 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 report on Thursday, January 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $22.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Raymond James cut shares of Columbia Banking System from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating and set a $25.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $22.19.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 0.8 %

COLB opened at $20.06 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.14. The company has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.69. Columbia Banking System has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.12. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 16.52%. The firm had revenue of $473.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $480.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,753,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $580,376,000 after acquiring an additional 123,120 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Columbia Banking System by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,788,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,809,000 after buying an additional 700,643 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 0.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,079,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,714,000 after buying an additional 26,010 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,578,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $122,158,000 after acquiring an additional 637,212 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,939,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $79,980,000 after acquiring an additional 967,009 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Columbia Banking System Company 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.