ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 4,063 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,063 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $3,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of COLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 valued at $63,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,833,744 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 90.8% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 573,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,409,000 after buying an additional 273,018 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Columbia Banking System by 41.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 22,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 6,786 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Columbia Banking System by 164.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 89,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,763,000 after buying an additional 55,552 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 3.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 992,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,742,000 after acquiring an additional 36,995 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group initiated coverage on Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.31.

Columbia Banking System Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of COLB opened at $28.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.99 and a 200 day moving average of $26.55. The company has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.67. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.08 and a 12 month high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (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 return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is 62.34%.

Columbia Banking System 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.