Wedbush Raises Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Price Target to $35.00

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) had its target price lifted by Wedbush from $31.00 to $35.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Columbia Banking System’s Q4 2024 earnings at $0.65 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $0.69 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.70 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $0.71 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.71 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.72 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $2.85 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also commented on COLB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of Columbia Banking System stock opened at $28.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.35 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $25.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.34. Columbia Banking System has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $28.88.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 15.94% and a return on equity of 10.89%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.01%. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 61.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833,744 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 788,383 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,327,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $432,041,000 after acquiring an additional 574,509 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,456,438 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,532,000 after acquiring an additional 563,674 shares during the period. Finally, LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Columbia Banking System by 333.8% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 639,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,711,000 after acquiring an additional 491,742 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

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.