OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Stock Price Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average - What's Next?

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $17.26 and traded as high as $18.26. OceanFirst Financial shares last traded at $18.13, with a volume of 642,008 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Zacks Research cut OceanFirst Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 1.02.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $99.37 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $101.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 12.89%. Research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 4th. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is 56.74%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter worth $632,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3,306.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,578 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $248,000 after purchasing an additional 14,150 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $624,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,516,177 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $59,810,000 after buying an additional 61,515 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 61.6% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,441 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $535,000 after buying an additional 11,987 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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