Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 733,985 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 34,580 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.26% of OceanFirst Financial worth $13,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% in 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after acquiring an additional 157,711 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,049,000 after purchasing an additional 89,099 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,566,000 after purchasing an additional 34,458 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $575,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on OCFC. Raymond James raised OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group reduced their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.83.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $17.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $997.81 million, a PE ratio of 10.33 and a beta of 1.03. 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 Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.44.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.48%.

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.