StockNews.com Upgrades Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) to Buy

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning.

COLM has been the subject of several other research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Columbia Sportswear in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $84.00 to $92.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.00.

Columbia Sportswear Stock Performance

Shares of COLM traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $80.35. 852,835 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 462,096. Columbia Sportswear has a 1-year low of $73.04 and a 1-year high of $87.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.95 and a 200-day moving average of $80.80. The stock has a market cap of $4.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.92.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.20. Columbia Sportswear had a net margin of 6.42% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The company had revenue of $931.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $937.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. Columbia Sportswear’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Sportswear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. Columbia Sportswear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.15%.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Sportswear

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,170,400 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $257,373,000 after purchasing an additional 21,104 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 44.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,480,868 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $117,107,000 after purchasing an additional 454,738 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 1,304,761 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $103,180,000 after purchasing an additional 13,636 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,195,386 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $94,530,000 after purchasing an additional 56,348 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 153.3% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 616,110 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $48,722,000 after purchasing an additional 372,886 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.76% of the company’s stock.

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.