Is Columbia Banking Stock a Capital Return Play for 2026?

Columbia Banking System COLB is leaning into shareholder returns as it works through its Pacific Premier integration. The setup blends a higher dividend with a larger buyback plan that management expects to step up in 2026.

For investors focused on total return, the question is whether that capital return path can offset near-term integration noise and keep per-share metrics moving higher.

COLB’s Dividend Profile and Recent Hike

Columbia Banking raised its quarterly dividend by 2.8% in November 2025 to 37 cents per share. The move signals a willingness to return cash while the company stays focused on balance sheet priorities.

The current yield profile looks competitive in its regional bank peer set. COLB has a dividend yield of 5.53%, well above several industry peers. For context, East West Bancorp EWBC and WaFd, Inc. WAFD both carry meaningfully lower dividend yields in that same comparison set. EWBC has dividend yield of 2.97% while WAFD has a dividend yield of 3.51%.

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COLB’s Buyback Runway Through 2026

The larger lever for 2026 is the repurchase authorization. In October 2025, the board approved up to $700 million in share repurchases through Nov. 30, 2026. That window gives management flexibility to align buybacks with integration progress, capital generation, and market conditions.

The remaining capacity is still substantial. The company has $600 million left authorized under the current plan. That provides runway to keep repurchases in place even if quarterly activity varies as the integration timeline advances.

Management’s stated 2026 repurchase cadence is the most direct signal in the capital-return plan. The expectation is to increase share repurchase activity to $150 million to $200 million per quarter in 2026. That level of spending implies confidence in capital generation during the integration period.

COLB Capital Levels Support Shareholder Returns

Capital trends matter because they determine how durable the return plan can be. The company’s capital ratios have been moving higher in recent quarters. The common equity tier 1 ratio moved from the low-10% range in late 2024 to 11.8% as of Dec. 31, 2025. Over the same period, the total risk-based capital ratio improved from 12.8% to 13.6%.

Management also reiterated long-term capital targets above “well-capitalized” minimums. That framing supports the idea that dividends and buybacks are designed to be ongoing, not a one-off gesture tied to a single quarter.

COLB Valuation Context for a Buyback Thesis

Repurchases tend to matter more when valuation is reasonable. Columbia Banking is trading at 8.61 times forward 12-month earnings, below the 9.41 times multiple shown for the Zacks sub-industry.

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A lower forward earnings multiple can amplify the impact of buybacks on per-share measures because each dollar deployed can retire more shares. In that context, an accelerated repurchase pace in 2026 has the potential to meaningfully influence per-share outcomes, particularly if the company sustains margin and profitability improvements cited in its outlook.

COLB Decision Lens Using Zacks Signals

From a Zacks perspective, Columbia Banking carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). That supports a constructive stance for investors with a one- to three-month framework who want alignment with earnings estimate revision trends. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Style Score profile points to who this setup fits best. COLB’s Value Score is stronger than its Growth and Momentum scores, with Value at B and Growth and Momentum at D. In practice, that leans toward investors who prioritize income and valuation support, and who are comfortable holding through integration-related volatility while the capital return plan scales into 2026.

Over the past six months, shares of Columbia Banking have gained 3.6% against the industry’s decline of 6%.

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

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