OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Announces Earnings Results

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02, Zacks reports. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 1.8 %

OCFC opened at $18.81 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.27. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06. OceanFirst Financial has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $21.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on OCFC shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of OceanFirst Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corp. operates as the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank N.A. that provides community banking services to retail and commercial customers. It accepts money market accounts, savings accounts, interest-bearing checking accounts, non-interest-bearing accounts, and time deposits, that includes brokered deposits to retail, government, and business customers.