Short Interest in Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) Grows By 14.0%

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,180,000 shares, a growth of 14.0% from the August 31st total of 2,790,000 shares. Currently, 9.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 440,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.2 days.

Columbia Sportswear Price Performance

COLM opened at $82.76 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $80.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.39. Columbia Sportswear has a 12 month low of $66.01 and a 12 month high of $87.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.92.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The textile maker reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.34) by $0.14. Columbia Sportswear had a net margin of 6.72% and a return on equity of 13.01%. The firm had revenue of $570.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $569.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Sportswear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Columbia Sportswear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.27%.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Sportswear

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 44.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,480,868 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $117,107,000 after acquiring an additional 454,738 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Sportswear by 153.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 616,110 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $48,722,000 after purchasing an additional 372,886 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Columbia Sportswear during the fourth quarter worth approximately $22,526,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 149.0% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 195,933 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $15,463,000 after buying an additional 117,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 476,608 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $37,909,000 after buying an additional 105,193 shares in the last quarter. 47.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on COLM shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Sportswear in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $84.00 to $92.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

About Columbia Sportswear

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.