Ameriprise Financial Inc. Acquires 24,634 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 3.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 700,247 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,634 shares during the quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned approximately 1.20% of OceanFirst Financial worth $12,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,454 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 94,274 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $1,706,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 44,371 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 34,999 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stephens restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James cut their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Hovde Group cut their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $16.96. 425,116 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 302,185. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $16.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $990.19 million, a P/E ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 0.99. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $14.03 and a 1-year high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial's dividend 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.