Brokerages Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Price Target at $21.00

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

OCFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler set a $19.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th.

Trending Headlines about OceanFirst Financial

Here are the key news stories impacting OceanFirst Financial this week:

• Positive Sentiment: OceanFirst reported second-quarter earnings of $0.43 per share, exceeding the $0.42 analyst consensus and rising from $0.31 a year earlier. The earnings beat may support the stock by indicating improved per-share profitability. OceanFirst Financial Q2 Earnings and Revenues Top Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: The board declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, payable August 21 to shareholders of record August 10. The annualized payout implies a yield of approximately 4.1%, which may appeal to income-focused investors and reinforce the company’s shareholder-return strategy. OceanFirst Financial Dividend Strengthens Focus
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary points to the company’s completed merger and dividend yield as key parts of the investment case, potentially improving the outlook for scale and shareholder returns. OceanFirst Financial Merger Complete, Great Dividend Yield

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $19.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.72. OceanFirst Financial has a twelve month low of $16.09 and a twelve month high of $20.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $131.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.62 million. As a group, research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 94.12%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,409,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $61,499,000 after purchasing an additional 179,364 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 15.1% in the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,383,588 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $24,960,000 after buying an additional 181,557 shares in the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $484,000. Fifth Third Bancorp bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter valued at about $500,000. Finally, UBS Group AG lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 165,402 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,969,000 after buying an additional 66,185 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About OceanFirst Financial

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.