OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $21.60 Average PT from Analysts

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $21.60.

A number of brokerages have commented on OCFC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson raised OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 132.3% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 7,325 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 4,172 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 458.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,526 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 6,998 shares during the period. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $175,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,952 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $20.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60 and a beta of 1.10. OceanFirst Financial has a 52 week low of $14.29 and a 52 week high of $20.61.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 14th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.02% and a net margin of 11.77%.The company had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter. Analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 62.02%.

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.