Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Has $4.49 Million Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 11.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 241,297 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 30,946 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned approximately 0.41% of OceanFirst Financial worth $4,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Royce & Associates LP increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,196,000 after acquiring an additional 164,626 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $12,828,000 after acquiring an additional 158,590 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after acquiring an additional 105,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 59,216.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 51,012 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 50,926 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OCFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.75.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 3.7 %

OCFC opened at $20.88 on Monday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $13.41 and a 1-year high of $21.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.76 and a 200-day moving average of $17.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

OceanFirst Financial 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.