Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Takes $698,000 Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 41,023 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $698,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OCFC. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter valued at $13,160,000. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 34.3% in the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,026,099 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,454,000 after purchasing an additional 262,259 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $2,695,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 121.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 160,837 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,911,000 after acquiring an additional 88,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 518.5% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 103,961 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 87,152 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.11 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $17.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $14.29 and a 1 year high of $21.87. The firm has a market cap of $981.77 million, a PE ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 1.04.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

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.