Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Plans $0.36 Quarterly Dividend

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.25%.

Columbia Banking System has increased its dividend by an average of 8.1% per year over the last three years. Columbia Banking System has a dividend payout ratio of 50.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

Columbia Banking System Stock Down 0.2 %

COLB opened at $27.41 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.87 and a 200 day moving average of $27.18. The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.66. Columbia Banking System has a 52-week low of $17.08 and a 52-week high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.99% and a return on equity of 11.21%. Equities analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on COLB. Stephens decreased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.38.

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.