OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC Shares Sold by Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC

Key Points

• Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC reduced its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. by 32.5%, now owning 44,767 shares valued at $761,000.
• Several large investors have increased their holdings in OceanFirst, with Royce & Associates LP raising its stake by 34.3% during the first quarter.
• Analysts currently rate OceanFirst Financial as a "Hold" with a consensus target price of $20.67, following a recent downgrade to "strong sell" by Zacks Research.

Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC cut its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 32.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,767 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 21,508 shares during the quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC owned approximately 0.08% of OceanFirst Financial worth $761,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 553,363 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $10,016,000 after purchasing an additional 27,971 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 700,247 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $12,674,000 after acquiring an additional 24,634 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 64.3% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 75,238 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $1,362,000 after acquiring an additional 29,450 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,728 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 43,277 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 16,110 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Zacks Research cut OceanFirst Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ OCFC traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $17.89. The stock had a trading volume of 148,823 shares, compared to its average volume of 252,723. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $14.29 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.31 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 analyst estimates of $101.26 million. Equities analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.5%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.74%.

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.