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

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 419 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Columbia Sportswear by 68.7% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 705 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear during the 3rd quarter valued at $65,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear during the 3rd quarter worth $75,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear during the second quarter worth $286,000. Institutional investors own 47.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on COLM. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Columbia Sportswear from $70.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Columbia Sportswear from $92.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Columbia Sportswear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Columbia Sportswear currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.75.

Columbia Sportswear Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ COLM traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $85.20. 14,586 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 463,655. Columbia Sportswear has a twelve month low of $73.04 and a twelve month high of $91.30. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.54, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $84.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.04.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $931.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $937.17 million. Columbia Sportswear had a return on equity of 12.48% and a net margin of 6.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Sportswear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 20th. Columbia Sportswear’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.