Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) Short Interest Update

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,780,000 shares, an increase of 7.1% from the November 30th total of 3,530,000 shares. Currently, 13.5% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 454,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.3 days.

Columbia Sportswear Price Performance

COLM traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.89. The stock had a trading volume of 41,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,655. Columbia Sportswear has a 1-year low of $73.04 and a 1-year high of $91.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.04.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.20. Columbia Sportswear had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 6.42%. The firm had revenue of $931.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $937.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Sportswear Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 20th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. Columbia Sportswear’s payout ratio is 33.15%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COLM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Columbia Sportswear from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on Columbia Sportswear from $70.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Columbia Sportswear currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 19.8% during the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,773,584 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $147,544,000 after acquiring an additional 292,716 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,195,386 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $94,530,000 after purchasing an additional 56,348 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 153.3% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 616,110 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $48,722,000 after purchasing an additional 372,886 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Columbia Sportswear by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 604,824 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $50,328,000 after acquiring an additional 4,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 550,622 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $45,806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.76% of the company’s stock.

About Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities.