First Pacific Financial Takes Position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

First Pacific Financial bought a new stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3,669.2% during the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 8,094,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,405,000 after purchasing an additional 7,880,183 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 65.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,791,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $402,508,000 after purchasing an additional 7,465,846 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 91.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,102,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $194,985,000 after purchasing an additional 4,342,755 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the first quarter valued at about $90,775,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System in the third quarter valued at about $80,011,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on COLB. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $36.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 26th. StockNews.com cut Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Columbia Banking System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their target price on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.04.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 4.0 %

NASDAQ:COLB opened at $19.10 on Thursday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.18 and a 52 week high of $28.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.37. The stock has a market cap of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.70.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.35). The business had revenue of $519.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $525.94 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 12.71% and a return on equity of 10.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.93 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 87.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Columbia Banking System news, CEO Clint Stein purchased 9,500 shares of Columbia Banking System stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $20.96 per share, with a total value of $199,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 165,684 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,472,736.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Columbia Banking System news, CEO Clint Stein purchased 9,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.96 per share, with a total value of $199,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 165,684 shares in the company, valued at $3,472,736.64. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christopher Merrywell purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.09 per share, for a total transaction of $105,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the vice president now owns 50,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,832.43. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 35,133 shares of company stock valued at $719,737 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

About Columbia Banking System

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.