Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,780,000 shares, a growth of 7.1% from the November 30th total of 3,530,000 shares. Currently, 13.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 454,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 8.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Sportswear

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Columbia Sportswear by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 212,061 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $16,950,000 after buying an additional 4,425 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Columbia Sportswear by 0.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 604,824 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $50,328,000 after purchasing an additional 4,727 shares during the last quarter. Petrus Trust Company LTA acquired a new position in Columbia Sportswear in the 3rd quarter valued at about $715,000. Holocene Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 71.8% during the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 57,200 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $4,758,000 after buying an additional 23,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Sportswear by 0.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 107,102 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $8,910,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. 47.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Columbia Sportswear from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Columbia Sportswear from $70.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Columbia Sportswear Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COLM traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $83.81. The stock had a trading volume of 52,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 463,655. Columbia Sportswear has a 12-month low of $73.04 and a 12-month high of $91.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.04.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.36 by $0.20. Columbia Sportswear had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 6.42%. The company had revenue of $931.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $937.17 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Sportswear Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. Columbia Sportswear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.15%.

Columbia Sportswear Company Profile

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities.