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

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.12, Briefing.com reports. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.52% and a return on equity of 11.66%. The firm had revenue of $473.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $480.39 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB opened at $19.12 on Friday. Columbia Banking System has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.11. The firm has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of 8.21 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $18.51 and its 200-day moving average is $21.15.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is currently 61.80%.

Insider Activity at Columbia Banking System

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson reduced their price target on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective 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. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Columbia Banking System from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.19.

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.