Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.12 EPS

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 12.71%. The company had revenue of $473.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $480.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 2.3 %

COLB traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $19.45. 1,817,276 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,851,945. Columbia Banking System has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $28.11. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.87 and a beta of 0.71.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.40%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on COLB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet cut Columbia Banking System from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $21.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John F. Schultz purchased 8,559 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.39 per share, with a total value of $174,518.01. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 41,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $853,729.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Ron L. Farnsworth acquired 2,500 shares of Columbia Banking System stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $20.71 per share, for a total transaction of $51,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 160,073 shares in the company, valued at $3,315,111.83. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John F. Schultz bought 8,559 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.39 per share, for a total transaction of $174,518.01. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 41,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $853,729.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 35,133 shares of company stock valued at $719,737 over the last ninety days. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.