Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) Short Interest Update

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totaling 19,995,956 shares, a growth of 353.8% from the July 15th total of 4,406,616 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 14,044,754 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days. Approximately 9.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CLBK. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Columbia Financial by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 16,384 shares of the company’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 702 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Columbia Financial by 7.9% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Columbia Financial by 2.7% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 40,957 shares of the company’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 8.1% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 1,342 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Columbia Financial by 59.8% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564 shares during the period. 12.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CLBK. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Columbia Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings raised Columbia Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Columbia Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $19.00 to $14.00 in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Columbia Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.50.

Columbia Financial Trading Down 0.2%

CLBK traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.69. 1,294,285 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,100,358. Columbia Financial has a 1 year low of $6.21 and a 1 year high of $11.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.02. The firm has a market cap of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.83 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter. Columbia Financial had a net margin of 11.19% and a return on equity of 5.29%. The firm had revenue of $73.75 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Columbia Financial will post 0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.05 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $0.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Columbia Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.82%.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for Columbia Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Through its principal subsidiary, Columbia Bank, the company offers a comprehensive suite of retail and commercial banking products and services. These offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and mortgage lending, commercial real estate financing, and business banking solutions tailored to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

On the consumer side, Columbia Bank provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans.