Columbia Banking Rewards Shareholders With a 2.8% Dividend Hike

Columbia Banking System, Inc. COLB, parent company of Columbia Bank, has announced a quarterly dividend of 37 cents per share, marking a 2.8% increase from the prior payout. The dividend will be paid on Dec. 15, 2025, to shareholders of record as of Nov. 28, 2025.

Earlier, in May 2023, the company raised its dividend by 20% to 36 cents per share. Based on yesterday's closing price of $25.75, its current dividend yield is 5.59% compared with the industry’s 3.27%. Over the past five years, COLB has increased its dividend three times.

Dividend Yield

Further, the company also maintains a five-year annualized dividend growth rate of 7.05% along with a payout ratio of 48% of its earnings. This indicates that it maintains sufficient earnings to support reinvestment and future growth, while continuing to provide reasonable shareholder returns.

COLB’s Other Capital Distribution Activities

Beyond dividends, Columbia Banking continues to reward shareholders through share buybacks. On Oct. 29, 2025, its board authorized a new share repurchase plan of up to $700 million, effective through Nov. 30, 2026.

The company also maintains a decent liquidity position. As of Sept. 30, 2025, the total cash and cash equivalents were $2.3 billion. It had a short-term debt of $2.9 billion as of the same date, with no long-term debt.

Thus, backed by its decent liquidity profile, COLB is likely to maintain its capital distribution activities and keep supporting shareholder value.

COLB’s Price Performance and Zacks Rank

Over the past six months, shares of Columbia Banking have rallied 3.4% compared with the industry’s growth of 2.3%.

Price Performance

Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Similar Steps by Other Finance Firms

In October 2025, Bank OZK OZK hiked its quarterly cash dividend by 2.3% to 45 cents per share. The dividend was paid out on Oct. 21 to shareholders of record as of Oct. 14, 2025.

OZK has hiked its quarterly cash dividend in each of the last 61 quarters. Before the recent hike, the bank increased its dividend by 2.3% to 44 cents per share in July 2025. It has a dividend payout ratio of 28%.

In September 2025, Fifth Third Bancorp FITB announced a quarterly dividend of 40 cents per share, marking an 8.1% increase from the prior payout. The dividend was paid on Oct. 15 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 30, 2025.

Before this, FITB raised its dividend by 5.7% to 37 cents per share in September 2024. The latest announcement represents the 10th consecutive year of increasing shareholder payouts, with an annualized growth rate of 7.84%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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