Brokerages Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Price Target at $20.67

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.67.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on 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 decreased their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 140,665 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,546,000 after purchasing an additional 30,373 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $632,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3,306.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,578 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 14,150 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 59.3% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 43,277 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 16,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 121.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 160,837 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $2,911,000 after buying an additional 88,292 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of OCFC stock traded down $0.19 on Friday, hitting $17.17. The stock had a trading volume of 288,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 297,285. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $14.29 and a 12-month high of $21.87. The business has a 50 day moving average of $16.87 and a 200 day moving average of $17.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.38% and a net margin of 13.59%. The company had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.66 million. As a group, analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were given 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 4.66%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.29%.

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.