Blue Trust Inc. Grows Holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $64,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 61,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after purchasing an additional 11,637 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 482,353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,030,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 24,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Columbia Banking System from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Columbia Banking System from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.33.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COLB opened at $24.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.65 and a beta of 0.60. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.61 and a fifty-two week high of $32.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.38.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 4th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $348.47 million during the quarter. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.98% and a return on equity of 11.31%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 29th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

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.