Northern Trust Corp Raises Stock Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 553,363 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 27,971 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 0.95% of OceanFirst Financial worth $10,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $5,566,000 after buying an additional 34,458 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 11.6% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 79,571 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $1,466,000 after buying an additional 8,253 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,519 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 6,496 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 6,001.3% during the fourth quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,152 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $166,000 after buying an additional 9,002 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 133,122 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,410,000 after buying an additional 6,444 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ:OCFC traded down $0.17 on Friday, hitting $16.62. 236,056 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 302,354. The stock has a market cap of $970.34 million, a PE ratio of 10.07 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.50 and a 200-day moving average of $17.95. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. The business had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.66 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.81%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.