Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) Coverage Initiated at Piper Sandler

Investment analysts at Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) in a research report issued on Monday. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler’s target price points to a potential upside of 2.16% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CLBK. Brean Capital cut shares of Columbia Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $19.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Columbia Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

Columbia Financial Price Performance

Shares of CLBK stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $17.62. 35,824 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 240,521. Columbia Financial has a twelve month low of $12.64 and a twelve month high of $18.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $16.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.55 and a beta of 0.20.

Columbia Financial (NASDAQ:CLBK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.15. The business had revenue of $68.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.20 million. Columbia Financial had a return on equity of 4.69% and a net margin of 10.19%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Columbia Financial will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Columbia Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in Columbia Financial by 2,322.2% during the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 2,616 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 2,508 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue purchased a new stake in Columbia Financial during the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Columbia Financial in the third quarter worth about $120,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Columbia Financial in the third quarter worth about $153,000. Finally, Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of Columbia Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $168,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.72% of the company’s stock.

About Columbia Financial

Columbia Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for Columbia Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Through its principal subsidiary, Columbia Bank, the company offers a comprehensive suite of retail and commercial banking products and services. These offerings include deposit accounts, consumer and mortgage lending, commercial real estate financing, and business banking solutions tailored to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

On the consumer side, Columbia Bank provides checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, home equity lines of credit, and residential mortgage loans.