Royce & Associates LP Buys 191,383 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 13.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,662,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 191,383 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $29,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 18.7% during the third quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 897,091 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $15,762,000 after buying an additional 141,463 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 398,036 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,009,000 after buying an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,340,968 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,614,000 after acquiring an additional 14,590 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $5,182,000. Finally, Creative Planning increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 124.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 89,374 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after acquiring an additional 49,571 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Raymond James Financial cut OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson lowered OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.33.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $18.06 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $18.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.53. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.29 and a 12 month high of $20.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 1.05.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 10.33% and a return on equity of 5.14%. The business had revenue of $104.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.20 million. Equities research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 68.97%.

OceanFirst Financial 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.