OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Shares Bought by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 518.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 103,961 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after buying an additional 87,152 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. owned 0.18% of OceanFirst Financial worth $1,882,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.8% in 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 buying an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,728 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 882 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 94,274 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $1,706,000 after buying an additional 1,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 44,371 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $803,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.72 on Friday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $21.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a PE ratio of 10.74 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.98.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The company had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $95.66 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. 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 4.51%. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on OCFC. Hovde Group reduced their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.

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