OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.60.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Raymond James Financial lowered OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Wall Street Zen raised OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $150,000 after purchasing an additional 6,998 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $155,000. EMC Capital Management raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.7% in the second 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. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 7.0% in the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 10,285 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $17.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.29 and a fifty-two week high of $20.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91 and a beta of 1.07.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 5.02%. The business had revenue of $102.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.56 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.02%.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.