Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $503,000 Holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) by 29.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,720 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Columbia Banking System were worth $503,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Columbia Banking System by 17.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 0.3% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 261,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,068,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Columbia Banking System by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 92,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,460,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Columbia Banking System by 85.1% during the first quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 113.4% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on COLB. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of Columbia Banking System in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $22.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Wedbush increased their target price on Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Columbia Banking System from $20.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Columbia Banking System from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.04.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COLB opened at $25.18 on Tuesday. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $28.11. The stock has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $22.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.29.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $472.15 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $476.01 million. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 15.94% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.55 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.72%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. Columbia Banking System’s payout ratio is 61.80%.

Columbia Banking System Company 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.