OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $20.42 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat 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 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.75.

OCFC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $18.81 on Thursday. OceanFirst Financial has a 1 year low of $14.03 and a 1 year high of $21.87. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.29. The company has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

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

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at OceanFirst Financial

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 82.3% during 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. raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,737 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 3,835 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.