First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 86,951 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 46.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 275,825 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 86,951 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.48% of OceanFirst Financial worth $4,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 458.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,526 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $150,000 after purchasing an additional 6,998 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 10,285 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $181,000 after buying an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $184,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $186,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $192,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on OCFC. Weiss Ratings upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Piper Sandler set a $19.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.00.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $19.66 on Tuesday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $16.09 and a 1 year high of $20.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $18.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $131.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.62 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. OceanFirst Financial's payout ratio is 94.12%.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corporation NASDAQ: OCFC is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company's core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.

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