OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Stock: Insider Nicos Katsoulis Acquires 10,000 Shares

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Director Nicos Katsoulis purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.83 per share, for a total transaction of $178,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 41,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $732,741.68. The trade was a 32.16% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $18.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67 and a beta of 1.01. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $15.60 and a 12 month high of $20.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.47.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The savings and loans company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $185.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 5.28% and a return on equity of 6.55%. Research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.81 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 20th. Investors of record on Monday, November 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 9th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 111.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OCFC. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $10,209,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,494,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,045,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $12,593,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $194,135,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) is the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank, a full-service community bank headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey. The company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations.

OceanFirst Bank offers deposit products, residential and commercial real estate lending, business loans, consumer loans, mortgage services, online and mobile banking, and cash-management solutions. Through its wealth-management operations, the company also provides investment management, trust, and financial-planning services.

Founded in 1902, OceanFirst has grown from a savings institution serving the Jersey Shore into a regional banking organization.