JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 157,711 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 2.12% of OceanFirst Financial worth $23,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 79,571 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 8,253 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,421,373 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $26,428,000 after buying an additional 27,579 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,566,000 after buying an additional 34,458 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 71,504 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after acquiring an additional 494 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of 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 worth $20,130,000 after acquiring an additional 925,283 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective 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. Finally, Raymond James upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

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.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OCFC opened at $18.03 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.02. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $14.03 and a twelve month high of $21.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.06.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. The firm had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. Research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.