Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Makes New Investment in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 162,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,231,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of COLB. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in Columbia Banking System by 71.5% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,434,000 after acquiring an additional 30,892 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Columbia Banking System by 366.5% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 71,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,383,000 after purchasing an additional 56,135 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 28.0% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 21,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 4,786 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,792,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,686,000 after purchasing an additional 215,220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Columbia Banking System in the first quarter valued at about $2,292,000. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on COLB. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.12.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

COLB opened at $31.38 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 13.58 and a beta of 0.62. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.08 and a 52 week high of $31.86.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $765.06 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

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.