LMR Partners LLP Purchases New Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 41,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,079,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of COLB. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Banking System during the third quarter valued at approximately $683,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 98.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 944,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,657,000 after acquiring an additional 468,832 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 115,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 17,944 shares during the last quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 383.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mengis Capital Management Inc. now owns 49,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,303,000 after acquiring an additional 39,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP raised its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 197.7% in the third quarter. Versor Investments LP now owns 38,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,003,000 after purchasing an additional 25,500 shares during the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COLB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ COLB opened at $30.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.32 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $31.86. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.62.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.78%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend 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.