Analysts Set Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Target Price at $27.12

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.12.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on COLB shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Columbia Banking System stock opened at $30.55 on Friday. Columbia Banking System has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $31.86. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $27.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.55. The stock has a market cap of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23 and a beta of 0.62.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833,744 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,659,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611,563 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,593,000. Holocene Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 1,001.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 962,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,126,000 after purchasing an additional 874,986 shares during the period. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 21.4% during the first 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. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.