Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 5,000 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $1,486,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in COLB. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 812.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,182,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $63,295,000 after acquiring an additional 2,833,744 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 31.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,659,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,873,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611,563 shares during the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. bought a new position in Columbia Banking System in the third quarter valued at $26,593,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its stake in Columbia Banking System by 1,001.8% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 962,330 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,126,000 after buying an additional 874,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Columbia Banking System by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,263,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,099,000 after buying an additional 562,467 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COLB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $32.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.31.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB opened at $28.58 on Friday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.08 and a 12-month high of $32.85. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.05 and a 200-day moving average of $26.43. The stock has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.67.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.13% and a net margin of 16.15%. The firm had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $478.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th were paid 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 (DPR) is 62.34%.

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.