Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stock Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 53,476 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.52% of OceanFirst Financial worth $58,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 27.5% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 140,665 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,546,000 after acquiring an additional 30,373 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $23,074,000 after acquiring an additional 157,711 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $5,566,000 after buying an additional 34,458 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,519 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 6,496 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on OCFC. Hovde Group decreased their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on 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. Finally, Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC traded down $0.24 during trading on Monday, hitting $16.97. 265,948 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 296,180. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $990.73 million, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 0.94. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $14.03 and a 1-year high of $21.87. The business's 50 day moving average is $16.52 and its 200-day moving average is $18.04.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. Equities analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial's payout ratio is currently 52.29%.

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.