Legal & General Group Plc Trims Holdings in Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM)

Legal & General Group Plc cut its holdings in Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 52,023 shares of the textile maker’s stock after selling 1,230 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Columbia Sportswear were worth $4,366,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Columbia Sportswear by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 530,600 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $44,533,000 after acquiring an additional 107,157 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in Columbia Sportswear by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,510 shares of the textile maker’s stock valued at $630,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new position in Columbia Sportswear in the 4th quarter valued at $296,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear by 148.5% in the 4th quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd now owns 4,040 shares of the textile maker’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 2,414 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Columbia Sportswear in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,719,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Columbia Sportswear from $42.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Columbia Sportswear from $100.00 to $91.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Columbia Sportswear from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (down previously from $80.00) on shares of Columbia Sportswear in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Columbia Sportswear

In related news, Director Ronald E. Nelson sold 6,395 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.74, for a total value of $522,727.30. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 17,048 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,393,503.52. This trade represents a 27.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Richelle T. Luther sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.36, for a total value of $369,440.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,319,177.88. The trade was a 21.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 44.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Columbia Sportswear Stock Performance

Columbia Sportswear stock opened at $63.08 on Tuesday. Columbia Sportswear has a fifty-two week low of $59.07 and a fifty-two week high of $92.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.91.

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The textile maker reported $1.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by ($0.06). Columbia Sportswear had a net margin of 6.63% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, analysts forecast that Columbia Sportswear will post 4.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Columbia Sportswear Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Columbia Sportswear’s payout ratio is currently 31.01%.

Columbia Sportswear Profile

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities.