Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Sells 37,000 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Key Points

• Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC sold 37,000 shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp., reducing its holdings by 4.8%, and now owns approximately 733,610 shares valued at $12.48 million.
• OceanFirst Financial reported earnings of $0.31 per share for the last quarter, which fell short of analysts' estimates of $0.33, with revenue also below expectations at $99.37 million.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.20, representing an annualized yield of 4.4%, with a dividend payout ratio of 56.74%.

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 733,610 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 37,000 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned about 1.26% of OceanFirst Financial worth $12,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,454 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $58,442,000 after buying an additional 53,476 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 34,999 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $633,000 after buying an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 66.9% in the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 14,525 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 5,822 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.5%

OCFC stock traded down $0.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $18.43. 224,235 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 303,650. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $14.29 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $17.68 and a 200-day moving average of $17.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07 and a beta of 1.04.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.02). OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 12.89% and a return on equity of 5.22%. The company had revenue of $99.37 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $101.26 million. 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 Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.