ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 58,109 Shares of Columbia Banking System, Inc. $COLB

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 35.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 220,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 58,109 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $5,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 194.6% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 141.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 958 shares in the last quarter. Financial Harvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the first quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 41.4% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Columbia Banking System from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Columbia Banking System from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $27.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, September 15th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $26.00 target price (up previously from $22.00) on shares of Columbia Banking System in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and fourteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Columbia Banking System currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.27.

Columbia Banking System Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ COLB opened at $26.41 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.35. The company has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a PE ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.60. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.61 and a twelve month high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $511.55 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $492.00 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 17.98%.The business’s revenue was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

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.