Royce & Associates LP Buys 262,259 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 34.3%, owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $17 million as of the most recent reporting period.
• OceanFirst Financial declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 per share, representing a 4.59% yield with an annualized dividend of $0.80.
• The stock has seen a recent decrease of 2.6%, trading at $17.43, despite having a market cap of $1.02 billion and a PE ratio of 12.36.

Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 34.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,026,099 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 262,259 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 1.76% of OceanFirst Financial worth $17,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of OCFC. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 140,665 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $2,546,000 after purchasing an additional 30,373 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter worth $632,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3,306.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,578 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $248,000 after acquiring an additional 14,150 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 59.3% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 121.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 160,837 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,911,000 after acquiring an additional 88,292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on OCFC. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 0.9%

OceanFirst Financial stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $17.28. 126,566 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 302,424. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 0.99. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $14.29 and a 1-year high of $21.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $17.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.34.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $99.37 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.18% and a net margin of 12.89%. As a group, analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. OceanFirst Financial's 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.