Columbia Banking System, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.36 (NASDAQ:COLB)

Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th.

Columbia Banking System has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.2% per year over the last three years. Columbia Banking System has a payout ratio of 53.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Columbia Banking System to earn $2.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.9%.

Columbia Banking System Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:COLB opened at $31.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $28.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.00. Columbia Banking System has a 12 month low of $17.08 and a 12 month high of $32.85.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.07. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 16.15% and a return on equity of 10.13%. The company had revenue of $765.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $478.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Columbia Banking System will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

COLB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $25.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Columbia Banking System from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.12.

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.