OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday.

OCFC has been the subject of several other research reports. TheStreet raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $19.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Monday. Stephens reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $18.20.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $15.47 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.34 and a 200-day moving average of $15.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $12.01 and a 12-month high of $19.58. The company has a market capitalization of $920.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,295,098 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $47,680,000 after acquiring an additional 57,423 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,394,141 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $19,660,000 after acquiring an additional 139,646 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,234,836 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,868,000 after buying an additional 40,030 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,046,061 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $18,160,000 after buying an additional 66,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,391 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $14,485,000 after buying an additional 139,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.