CSM Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

CSM Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 294,184 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,182,000. CSM Advisors LLC owned 0.51% of OceanFirst Financial at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.9% in the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 26,272 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $448,000 after buying an additional 734 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,961 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,193 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 66,915 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,138,000 after purchasing an additional 1,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 153,801 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.6%

OCFC opened at $17.86 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.66. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $14.29 and a twelve month high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 14th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 5.00%. Equities research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Monday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $19.00 price target for the company. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.60.

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.