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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $18.90.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on OCFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective (down from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock traded down $0.18 on Friday, reaching $18.73. The stock had a trading volume of 133,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,867. The business’s 50 day moving average is $17.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. OceanFirst Financial has a 1 year low of $12.01 and a 1 year high of $18.98. The company has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.95 and a beta of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $170.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.93 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.85% and a net margin of 14.78%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 54.8% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,255 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 5,755 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 254.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,214 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $639,000 after buying an additional 28,874 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 12.6% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 48,292 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 5,388 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,828,000 after buying an additional 158,590 shares during the period. Finally, Caxton Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 40.6% in the 2nd quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 18,589 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,370 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

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.