First Trust Advisors LP Sells 188,737 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 78.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,823 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 188,737 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.09% of OceanFirst Financial worth $938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 372,771 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $6,747,000 after purchasing an additional 73,337 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $30,322,000 after acquiring an additional 67,010 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,454 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6.0% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 154,565 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,798,000 after acquiring an additional 8,781 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $17.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 118,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 307,465. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.70 and a beta of 0.99. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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, analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.53%. OceanFirst Financial's payout ratio is presently 52.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective 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. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price objective 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. 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.67.

About OceanFirst Financial

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.