OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.83.

Several analysts have issued reports on OCFC shares. Raymond James raised OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Hovde Group dropped their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday.

Insider Activity at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $20,130,000 after purchasing an additional 925,283 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares during the period. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,049,000 after purchasing an additional 89,099 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $18.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.33. OceanFirst Financial has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 1.06.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. Analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

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.