Columbia S&L; Stock Jumps on Buyback Talk

The stock of Columbia Savings & Loan soared in value on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday following disclosure in The Times that the financial institution may buy back its stock and go private if its shares do not start performing better.

Columbia’s stock closed the day up $1.125 at $10.625, a 52-week high, on unusually heavy volume of 602,200 shares. The stock hit a high of $11.375 a share during the day but lost some of the gain after the company issued a statement saying it has no “present plans” to go private.

Columbia Savings, based in Beverly Hills, is majority owned by the Spiegel family, including Thomas Spiegel, the firm’s chairman and chief executive.