OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the six analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.67.

OCFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target 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. Raymond James decreased their price target 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the 3rd 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. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 43,277 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 16,110 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 964,646 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $17,460,000 after acquiring an additional 47,561 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter worth $446,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $16.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 177,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,322. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87. The company has a market capitalization of $980.85 million, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $16.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.86.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.