Columbia Financial, Inc. (CLBK)

Price$11.53Cached quoteAs of 2026-09-16 14:34 UTC

AI: Fair-priced

Price checkThe shares look fairly priced because strong balance-sheet backing offsets demanding earnings expectations.

Columbia's market value is about $3.15 billion. Scaling the June 30 independent appraisal and final share count puts the stock near 1.0 times pro forma book value, an estimate adjusted as if the conversion and merger were complete, and about 1.07 times tangible book value, which excludes goodwill and similar intangibles. The same math implies roughly 23 times pro forma core earnings, meaning profit after removing one-off items, versus about 14 times for the appraisal peer group. That split supports a Fair-priced verdict.

Big pictureProfit is recovering, but the company has just become much larger and more complex.

The supplied history shows net income swung from $36.1 million in 2023 to an $11.7 million loss in 2024, then rebounded to $51.8 million in 2025. The first half of 2026 strengthened further: net income rose 30.1% to $27.6 million and net interest income rose 18.5% to $123.3 million. July then reset the company: 167.2 million new shares raised $1.67 billion, total shares became about 269.5 million, and Northfield was acquired for about $580 million. The capital is real, but future per-share returns depend on productive deployment.

Business strengthLower funding costs are lifting bank profits while credit losses remain manageable, not spotless.

Before Northfield was consolidated, net interest margin, the spread between what the bank earns on assets and pays for funding, rose to 2.44% from 2.19%, while second-quarter net income rose 17.7%. Credit remained acceptable: six-month net charge-offs fell to $1.4 million from $4.1 million and reserves equaled 165% of non-performing loans. Still, non-performing loans rose to 0.51% of loans from 0.46%, including a $10.6 million mixed-use commercial-property loan. Common equity Tier 1, a key regulatory capital measure, was a solid 13.89%.

What could change the storyValue depends on turning new capital and Northfield into higher earnings without weakening credit quality.

Management originally expected the Northfield combination to lift 2027 earnings per share about 50%, with 4.4% tangible-book dilution earned back in 1.8 years. That is the bull case: use the new capital, Northfield's lower-cost deposits, and more than 100 branches to raise returns. The bear case is underdeployment or integration drag. Pre-merger profit earned on shareholder capital was only about 5%, and roughly 57% of loans were commercial real estate, multifamily, or construction. If margins retreat or credit costs rise, today's near-book valuation could prove less protective.

AI: News

Conversion and Northfield closeColumbia completed its public conversion, raised major new capital, and absorbed Northfield in one transformative closing.

On July 20, 2026, Columbia sold 167.2 million shares for $1.67 billion, completed the mutual-to-stock conversion, and closed the roughly $580 million Northfield acquisition with 70% stock and 30% cash consideration. The combined bank was projected at about $18.0 billion of assets, $12.5 billion of deposits, $11.9 billion of loans, and more than 100 branches. Split-adjusted shares rose 4.6% that day, although timing alone does not prove the transaction caused the move.

Second-quarter earnings and dividendSecond-quarter profit improved as funding costs eased, and Columbia launched its first quarterly cash dividend.

On July 30, 2026, Columbia reported second-quarter net income of $14.5 million, up 17.7% from a year earlier, as net interest margin improved to 2.44% from 2.19%. Commercial loan segments grew $260.6 million during the quarter. The board also declared a $0.05 quarterly dividend. Importantly, these results did not yet include Northfield, so the next reported quarter will be the first clearer test of the combined company's earning power and integration.

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Revenue

2022

2023

2024

2025

Net income

2022

2023

2024

2025

Free cash flow

2022

2023

2024

2025

Total cash / debt

CashTotal debt

2022

2023

2024

2025

Financial statements

	2025	2024	2023	2022
Revenue	$258.7M	$179.9M	$233.3M	$297.2M
Net income	$51.8M	−$11.7M	$36.1M	$86.2M
Net profit margin	20.01%	−6.48%	15.47%	29.00%
Basic EPSper basic share	$0.51	-$0.11	$0.35	$0.82
Diluted EPSper diluted share	$0.51	-$0.11	$0.35	$0.81

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Owners

Reported shareholders

Reference date Jun 30, 2026

2.35%of listed shares

BlackRock, Inc.2.45M shares · Jun 30, 2026

View holders

Top 20 reported holders of CLBK
Holder	% owned
BlackRock, Inc.	2.35%2.45M shares
DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP	2.02%2.1M shares
Ursa Fund Management, LLC	1.23%1.28M shares
STATE STREET CORP	1.18%1.23M shares
VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	1.13%1.18M shares
VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLC	1.08%1.12M shares
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC	0.76%786K shares
RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES LLC	0.69%718.96K shares
One Fin Capital Management LP	0.56%580K shares
Weiss Asset Management LP	0.48%504.55K shares
TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP	0.27%283.23K shares
MORGAN STANLEY	0.27%282.12K shares
NORTHERN TRUST CORP	0.24%252.73K shares
CHARLES SCHWAB INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC	0.22%224.43K shares
CITADEL ADVISORS LLC	0.18%188.27K shares
Creative Planning	0.18%184.09K shares
VANGUARD FIDUCIARY TRUST CO	0.17%179.34K shares
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC	0.12%129.96K shares
PEAK6 LLC	0.12%126.89K shares
D. E. Shaw & Co., Inc.	0.12%120.1K shares