Columbia Banking price target lowered to $19 from $20 at Citi

Citi analyst Benjamin Gerlinger lowered the firm’s price target on Columbia Banking to $19 from $20 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares as part of an earnings preview for the U.S. regional banks. The analyst believes now is a very attractive entry point for the group “given the low valuation starting point” and “rather overblown” commercial real estate loss concerns. While some banks are likely to experience “much more CRE-based turbulence than peers,” credit trends are likely to show very modest levels of “normalization” this quarter, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Citi believes regional banks “can climb the wall of worry this summer as rate cut assumptions become rate cut realities.”