Stephens Boosts Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Price Target to $26.00

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Stephens from $22.00 to $26.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Stephens’ target price would indicate a potential downside of 1.18% from the company’s previous close.

COLB has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.81.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 8.8 %

Shares of Columbia Banking System stock traded up $2.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $26.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,653,714 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,529,252. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.87. Columbia Banking System has a 1-year low of $17.08 and a 1-year high of $28.11. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.27 and a beta of 0.66.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $472.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $476.01 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.58% and a net margin of 16.52%. The company’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COLB. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Columbia Banking System in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,152,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3,245.7% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 864,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,068,000 after purchasing an additional 838,762 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 4,468,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,468,000 after purchasing an additional 788,383 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,788,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $207,809,000 after purchasing an additional 700,643 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,578,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,158,000 after purchasing an additional 637,212 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.