OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) shares gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $19.46, but opened at $18.96. OceanFirst Financial shares last traded at $19.31, with a volume of 34,901 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on OCFC shares. Hovde Group lifted their price target 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. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $170.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.93 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 5.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 41,625 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,411 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 105.6% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 21,639 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 11,114 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 44.3% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 40,086 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $745,000 after acquiring an additional 12,309 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 54.8% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,255 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 5,755 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 48,292 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 5,388 shares during the last quarter. 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.