Short Interest in Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK) Declines By 8.6%

Columbia Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLBK) saw a large drop in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,030,000 shares, a drop of 8.6% from the January 15th total of 2,220,000 shares. Approximately 7.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 94,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 21.6 days.

Columbia Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CLBK traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.90. The company had a trading volume of 84,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 104,328. The stock has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -132.53 and a beta of 0.21. Columbia Financial has a 12 month low of $13.79 and a 12 month high of $19.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.81.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Columbia Financial had a positive return on equity of 2.20% and a negative net margin of 2.39%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Columbia Financial will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Columbia Financial

In other news, Director Noel R. Holland sold 10,000 shares of Columbia Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.06, for a total value of $170,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 30,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $520,347.06. This trade represents a 24.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CLBK. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,299,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Columbia Financial by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,897,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,999,000 after acquiring an additional 66,583 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Columbia Financial by 192.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 93,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 61,369 shares in the last quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Columbia Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $578,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Columbia Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $474,000. Institutional investors own 12.72% of the company’s stock.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc, a bank holding company, provides various financial services to businesses and consumers in the United States. Its deposit products include checking, interest-earning checking products and municipal, savings and club deposits, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit.