OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $19.75 Average Price Target from Analysts

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.42.

A number of research analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday. Hovde Group raised their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $20.27 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $19.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.40. OceanFirst Financial has a 1-year low of $14.03 and a 1-year high of $21.87.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’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 owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,055 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the second quarter valued at $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% 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.