Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.06, Zacks reports. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%.

Columbia Banking System Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of COLB traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $28.15. 2,152,086 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,456,832. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.90 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.63. The company has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.19 and a beta of 0.67. Columbia Banking System has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.12%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is 62.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush increased their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Columbia Banking System from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $33.00 to $35.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on Columbia Banking System in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Columbia Banking System has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.31.

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.