OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

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 lessened its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 60.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,913 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 38,761 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank's holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of OCFC. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 553,363 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $10,016,000 after buying an additional 27,971 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew 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 purchasing an additional 24,634 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew 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 purchasing an additional 29,450 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter worth $183,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew 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 purchasing an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.19. The stock had a trading volume of 55,161 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,950. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.90 and a beta of 1.07. The company's 50-day moving average price is $17.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.18. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $14.29 and a twelve month high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.26 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 4.4%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is 56.74%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.