Columbia Banking System Inc. (COLB): $19.50
Tangible Book Value Per Share: $16.12 (as of December 31, 2023)
Market Cap: $4.36 B
When we see a large cluster of insiders purchasing shares of a company, the transactions tend to be part of a dividend reinvestment or automatic employee purchase plan, and it is noted as such in the comments of the filing. When we saw multiple insiders of the regional bank Columbia Banking System (COLB) purchase shares, we were slightly skeptical of the transactions at first. However, when we took a closer look at the company, we found something interesting, and wrote the following in our January 31 Event Driven Monitor:
Clint Stein, the President, CEO of regional bank Columbia Banking System, Inc. (COLB), purchased 9,500 shares at an average price of $20.96 totaling $199,112. Five other insiders including the CFO and four directors also purchased shares. Columbia is the Pacific Northwest bank that acquired both Bank of Commerce and Umpqua Bank. These purchases follow a big drop in the stock post Q4 2023 earnings. The dividend yield is approaching almost 7%.