OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.67.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Hovde Group dropped 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. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $22.00 price target 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 for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Raymond James cut their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 27.5% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 30,373 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $5,566,000 after buying an additional 34,458 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 28.2% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,519 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $534,000 after acquiring an additional 6,496 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

OCFC stock opened at $17.21 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $16.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.43 and a beta of 0.94. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $95.66 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.65%. OceanFirst Financial's payout ratio is currently 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.

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