Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) Lifted to “Outperform” at Wedbush

Wedbush upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $31.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $28.00. Wedbush also issued estimates for Columbia Banking System’s Q1 2026 earnings at $0.67 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $0.68 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $2.75 EPS.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on COLB. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com cut Columbia Banking System from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research report on Wednesday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $25.50.

Columbia Banking System Stock Performance

COLB opened at $25.96 on Tuesday. Columbia Banking System has a one year low of $17.08 and a one year high of $28.11. The company has a market cap of $5.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.11.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 15.94%. The business had revenue of $472.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $476.01 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Columbia Banking System will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.55%. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 61.80%.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Banking System

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Picton Mahoney Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 85.1% in the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 144.0% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 111.5% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 1,380 shares during the period. Finally, Hexagon Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 137,166.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 4,115 shares during the period. 92.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.