OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP cut its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 78.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing 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 filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on OCFC shares. Hovde Group lowered 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four research 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, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:OCFC traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $17.58. The company had a trading volume of 58,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,730. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $16.44 and a 200 day moving average of $17.98. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.35. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.66 million. Sell-side analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.55%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.29%.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.