Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd Makes New $29,000 Investment in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB)

Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ:COLB) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Columbia Banking System in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 62.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 171.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 2,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in Columbia Banking System by 36.8% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. 92.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Columbia Banking System news, VP Torran B. Nixon sold 4,481 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.99, for a total transaction of $116,461.19. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 104,869 shares in the company, valued at $2,725,545.31. This represents a 4.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.59% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Columbia Banking System from $34.00 to $33.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Columbia Banking System from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Columbia Banking System from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Columbia Banking System from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Columbia Banking System from $35.00 to $26.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

Columbia Banking System Price Performance

Shares of COLB stock opened at $22.21 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.31. Columbia Banking System, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.08 and a 1 year high of $32.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.74 and a beta of 0.53.

Columbia Banking System (NASDAQ:COLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.06. Columbia Banking System had a net margin of 17.99% and a return on equity of 11.21%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Columbia Banking System, Inc. will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Columbia Banking System Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.48%. Columbia Banking System’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.69%.

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.