AQR Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management reduced its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. by 23.5%, selling 176,977 shares, and now owns 577,501 shares valued at approximately $9.8 million.
• OceanFirst Financial's recent quarterly earnings report showed an EPS of $0.31, missing the consensus estimate by $0.02, with total revenues of $99.37 million.
• Zacks Research has downgraded OceanFirst Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell," impacting its overall rating which includes one "Strong Buy," one "Buy," four "Hold," and one "Sell" ratings.

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 23.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 577,501 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 176,977 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.99% of OceanFirst Financial worth $9,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,516,177 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $59,810,000 after purchasing an additional 61,515 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,731,785 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $29,458,000 after buying an additional 56,526 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,326,378 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $22,562,000 after buying an additional 117,578 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,072,375 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $18,241,000 after buying an additional 72,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,026,099 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $17,454,000 after buying an additional 262,259 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Zacks Research lowered OceanFirst Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock traded down $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $17.71. The stock had a trading volume of 193,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 249,915. The business's 50 day moving average is $17.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 1.07. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $14.29 and a 1 year high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.02). OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 12.89%.The business had revenue of $99.37 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.26 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. OceanFirst Financial's payout ratio is 56.74%.

OceanFirst Financial Profile

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.