Comerica Bank Reduces Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Key Points

• Comerica Bank reduced its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. by 60.9%, leaving it with 24,913 shares valued at $424,000.
• OceanFirst Financial reported quarterly earnings of $0.31 EPS, falling short of estimates, with revenue of $99.37 million.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, equating to an annual yield of 4.4%.

Comerica Bank lowered its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 60.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,913 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 38,761 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of OCFC. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter worth about $13,160,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1,226.5% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 464,258 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $7,897,000 after acquiring an additional 429,259 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,026,099 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $17,454,000 after acquiring an additional 262,259 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,326,378 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $22,562,000 after acquiring an additional 117,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 121.7% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 160,837 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $2,911,000 after acquiring an additional 88,292 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of OCFC stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.12. The company had a trading volume of 141,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 260,610. The company's fifty day moving average is $17.82 and its 200 day moving average is $17.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $14.29 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 1.07.

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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.02). OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 12.89%.The company had revenue of $99.37 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.26 million. Research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is 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.