Nuveen Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 11.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 773,483 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 100,340 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 1.32% of OceanFirst Financial worth $14,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,009.6% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 5,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 9,002 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on OCFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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. Raymond James cut 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $16.84. The company had a trading volume of 29,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 303,731. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $16.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.86. The firm has a market cap of $983.19 million, a PE ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.99.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is 52.29%.

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.