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Columbia Banking System Inc (NASDAQ:COLB): Ex-Dividend Is In 4 Days

Shares of Columbia Banking System Inc (NASDAQ:COLB) will begin trading ex-dividend in 4 days. To qualify for the dividend check of US$0.40 per share, investors must have owned the shares prior to 06 November 2018, which is the last day the company’s management will finalize their list of shareholders to which they will send dividend payments. Investors looking for higher income-generating stocks to add to their portfolio should keep reading, as I take a deeper dive into Columbia Banking System’s latest financial data to analyse its dividend attributes.

See our latest analysis for Columbia Banking System

5 questions to ask before buying a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

  • Does it pay an annual yield higher than 75% of dividend payers?

  • Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?

  • Has dividend per share risen in the past couple of years?

  • Can it afford to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

  • Will the company be able to keep paying dividend based on the future earnings growth?

NasdaqGS:COLB Historical Dividend Yield November 1st 18
NasdaqGS:COLB Historical Dividend Yield November 1st 18

How does Columbia Banking System fare?

The company currently pays out 48% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Going forward, analysts expect COLB’s payout to remain around the same level at 51% of its earnings, which leads to a dividend yield of 3.4%. In addition to this, EPS should increase to $2.69.

When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios.

If dividend is a key criteria in your investment consideration, then you need to make sure the dividend stock you’re eyeing out is reliable in its payments. Although COLB’s per share payments have increased in the past 10 years, it has not been a completely smooth ride. Shareholders would have seen a few years of reduced payments in this time.

In terms of its peers, Columbia Banking System generates a yield of 2.8%, which is on the low-side for Banks stocks.

Next Steps:

With this in mind, I definitely rank Columbia Banking System as a strong dividend stock, and makes it worth further research for anyone who likes steady income generation from their portfolio. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, you should always research extensively before deciding whether or not a stock is an appropriate investment for you. I always recommend analysing the company’s fundamentals and underlying business before making an investment decision. Below, I’ve compiled three essential factors you should further examine:

  1. Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for COLB’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for COLB’s outlook.

  2. Valuation: What is COLB worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, it’s not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether COLB is currently mispriced by the market.

  3. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

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