Columbia Banking System (COLB) Declares $0.30 Dividend

Columbia Banking System said on January 24, 2023 that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share ($1.20 annualized). Shareholders of record as of February 3, 2023 will receive the payment on February 21, 2023. Previously, the company paid $0.30 per share.

At the current share price of $30.91 / share, the stock's dividend yield is 3.88%. Looking back five years and taking a sample every week, the average dividend yield has been 3.63%, the lowest has been 1.98%, and the highest has been 6.70%. The standard deviation of yields is 0.99 (n=237).

The current dividend yield is 0.26 standard deviations above the historical average.

Additionally, the company's dividend payout ratio is 0.37. The payout ratio tells us how much of a company's income is paid out in dividends. A payout ratio of one (1.0) means 100% of the company's income is paid in a dividend. A payout ratio greater than one means the company is dipping into savings in order to maintain its dividend - not a healthy situation. Companies with few growth prospects are expected to pay out most of their income in dividends, which typically means a payout ratio between 0.5 and 1.0. Companies with good growth prospects are expected to retain some earnings in order to invest in those growth prospects, which translates to a payout ratio of zero to 0.5.

The company's 3-Year dividend growth rate is -0.19%.

Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 13.30% Upside

As of February 1, 2023, the average one-year price target for Columbia Banking System is $35.02. The forecasts range from a low of $30.30 to a high of $38.85. The average price target represents an increase of 13.30% from its latest reported closing price of $30.91.

The projected annual revenue for Columbia Banking System is $2,255MM, an increase of 213.22%. The projected annual EPS is $3.57, an increase of 11.28%.

Fund Sentiment

There are 583 funds or institutions reporting positions in Columbia Banking System. This is a decrease of 26 owner(s) or 4.27%.

Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to US:COLB is 0.2213%, an increase of 13.3302%. Total shares owned by institutions increased in the last three months by 1.85% to 105,119K shares.

What are large shareholders doing?

IJR - iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF holds 5,482,372 shares representing 7.04% ownership of the company. In it's prior filing, the firm reported owning 5,412,786 shares, representing an increase of 1.27%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in COLB by 3.66% over the last quarter.

Franklin Resources holds 4,700,314 shares representing 6.03% ownership of the company. In it's prior filing, the firm reported owning 4,361,099 shares, representing an increase of 7.22%. The firm decreased its portfolio allocation in COLB by 73.60% over the last quarter.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management holds 3,612,072 shares representing 4.64% ownership of the company.

FRVLX - Franklin Small Cap Value Fund holds 2,984,466 shares representing 3.83% ownership of the company. In it's prior filing, the firm reported owning 2,755,543 shares, representing an increase of 7.67%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in COLB by 20.54% over the last quarter.

Epoch Investment Partners holds 2,742,038 shares representing 3.52% ownership of the company. In it's prior filing, the firm reported owning 1,124,906 shares, representing an increase of 58.98%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in COLB by 26.59% over the last quarter.

Columbia Banking System Background Information
(This description is provided by the company.)

Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, Columbia Banking System, Inc. is the holding company of Columbia Bank, a Washington state-charteredfull-service commercial bank with locations throughout Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The bank has been named one of Puget Sound Business Journal's "Washington's Best Workplaces," more than 10 times and was recently honored as #1 in Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the Northwest region by J.D. Power in the 2020 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study. Columbia was named the #1 bank in the Northwest on the Forbes 2020 list of "America's Best Banks" marking nearly 10 consecutive years on the publication's list of top financial institutions. More information about Columbia can be found on its website at www.columbiabank.com. Columbia Bank received the highest score in the Northwest region of the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study of customer satisfaction with their own retail bank.

This story originally appeared on Fintel.