Is Columbia Banking System Inc (COLB) A Good Stock to Buy?

Since Columbia Banking System Inc (NASDAQ:COLB) has sustained a decline in interest from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, it’s safe to say that there is a sect of hedge funds that elected to cut their full holdings by the end of the third quarter. Interestingly, Renaissance Technologies, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, dumped the biggest position of all the investors watched by Insider Monkey, worth about $5.1 million in stock. John Overdeck and David Siegel’s fund, Two Sigma Advisors, also dropped its stock, about $0.7 million worth.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Columbia Banking System Inc (NASDAQ:COLB). We will take a look at El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE), Cosan Limited (USA) (NYSE:CZZ), Alexander & Baldwin Inc (NYSE:ALEX), and FTI Consulting, Inc. (NYSE:FCN). This group of stocks’ market values match COLB’s market value.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 14 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $128 million. That figure was $83 million in COLB’s case. Cosan Limited (USA) (NYSE:CZZ) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE) is the least popular one with only 9 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Columbia Banking System Inc (NASDAQ:COLB) is even less popular than EE. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock.

Disclosure: None