Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) Short Interest Up 90.8% in March

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,380,000 shares, an increase of 90.8% from the February 29th total of 2,820,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Elizabeth Whitehead Seaton purchased 2,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $18.48 per share, for a total transaction of $49,618.80. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 25,001 shares in the company, valued at $462,018.48. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Columbia Banking System news, Director Elizabeth Whitehead Seaton bought 2,685 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $18.48 per share, with a total value of $49,618.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,018.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Christopher Merrywell bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $21.09 per share, for a total transaction of $105,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 50,727 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,832.43. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 35,133 shares of company stock worth $719,737 in the last 90 days. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Banking System

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Columbia Banking System during the 1st quarter worth about $484,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 26.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,310 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,120 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 23,253 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $790,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Columbia Banking System by 56.3% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 42,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,364,000 after acquiring an additional 15,237 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Banking System by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 232,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,516,000 after buying an additional 7,638 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of COLB traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $19.35. 2,832,372 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,088,060. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.70. Columbia Banking System has a twelve month low of $17.18 and a twelve month high of $28.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.37.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.35). The firm had revenue of $519.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $525.94 million. Columbia Banking System had a return on equity of 10.27% and a net margin of 12.71%. Columbia Banking System’s revenue was up 52.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.93 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System will post 2.32 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 11th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.44%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

COLB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut Columbia Banking System from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $25.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $20.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Columbia Banking System from $28.00 to $21.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.04.

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.