Denali Advisors LLC Invests $403,000 in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Denali Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 23,711 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $403,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $57,000. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $183,000. PharVision Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $192,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,728 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $212,000 after purchasing an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

OCFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ OCFC traded down $0.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $18.08. 88,960 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 301,826. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $14.29 and a 1-year high of $21.87. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $17.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 5.38%. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.66 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.