OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $20.67 Average PT from Brokerages

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.6667.

OCFC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Saturday, September 27th.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 0.8%

OCFC stock opened at $17.99 on Tuesday. OceanFirst Financial has a one year low of $14.29 and a one year high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $17.65 and its 200 day moving average is $17.26. The firm has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 1.02.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.02). OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 12.89%.The firm had revenue of $99.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.26 million. On average, research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.74%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 132.3% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,325 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 4,172 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 458.0% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,526 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 6,998 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $175,000. EMC Capital Management increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.7% during the second quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,952 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $175,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 10,285 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.