Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Shares Purchased by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 16.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,578,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 637,212 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 2.19% of Columbia Banking System worth $122,158,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 91,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,853,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 17.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 34,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $925,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 261,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,970,000 after purchasing an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 17,270 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on COLB shares. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Friday, April 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.04.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

NASDAQ COLB opened at $18.48 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $19.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.73. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $28.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $473.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $480.39 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 16.52%. Columbia Banking System’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 24th were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.80%.

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.