Short Interest in Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) Grows By 7.1%

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Columbia Sportswear

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Columbia Sportswear by 51.3% during 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. lifted its holdings in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 68.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear during the third quarter worth $65,000. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear in the third quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Columbia Sportswear in the second quarter valued at about $286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.76% of the company’s stock.

Columbia Sportswear Stock Performance

NASDAQ:COLM traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.89. The stock had a trading volume of 41,016 shares, 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.04. The stock has a market cap of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.94.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The textile maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 6.42% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Columbia Sportswear will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Columbia Sportswear Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. 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.