Rafferty Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 22.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,093 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 15,225 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned 0.09% of OceanFirst Financial worth $943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $58,442,000 after purchasing an additional 53,476 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $30,322,000 after purchasing an additional 67,010 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,208,800 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $21,879,000 after purchasing an additional 121,923 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 763,840 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $13,826,000 after acquiring an additional 30,399 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 733,190 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $13,400,000 after acquiring an additional 20,249 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

OCFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hovde Group lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $16.96 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $990.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.28 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. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $14.03 and a 1-year high of $21.87. The stock's 50-day moving average is $16.50 and its 200 day moving average is $17.95.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $97.91 million for 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

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 of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.72%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is 52.29%.

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.

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