Fourthstone LLC Lowers Stock Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Fourthstone LLC reduced its position in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 10.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 25,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,900 shares during the period. Fourthstone LLC’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 175,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,583,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 0.5% during the third quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 111,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,903,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 2.5% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 28,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $741,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 14.0% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 25,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on COLB shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

COLB stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $31.62. 940,274 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,230,215. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.00. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.08 and a 52-week high of $32.85. The company has a market capitalization of $6.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 0.62.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. The company had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.55%. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is currently 62.34%.

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.