Systematic Financial Management LP Acquires 95,061 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,202,031 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 95,061 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $21,576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 506,708 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $9,095,000 after purchasing an additional 24,600 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $184,000. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $605,000. Gabelli Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 32,344 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $395,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OCFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.67.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $18.72 on Friday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $16.09 and a 12 month high of $20.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.00 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.04. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 10.04% and a return on equity of 5.35%. The company had revenue of $103.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.25 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 27th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 27th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.38%.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

OceanFirst Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: OCFC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company’s core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.