Piper Sandler Reiterates Neutral Rating for OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Key Points

• Piper Sandler maintained a Neutral rating on OceanFirst Financial and raised its price target from $19 to $21, implying approximately 6.4% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: the stock has a consensus Hold rating, with one Buy and five Hold ratings and an average price target of $21.50.
• OceanFirst reported quarterly EPS of $0.43, in line with estimates, while revenue of $131.33 million fell short of the $135.62 million consensus forecast. Institutional investors own approximately 71% of the company.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating restated by research analysts at Piper Sandler in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $21.00 price objective on the savings and loans company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $19.00. Piper Sandler's target price points to a potential upside of 6.41% from the stock's previous close.

OCFC has been the topic of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $21.50.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ OCFC traded down $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $19.73. 234,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 829,338. The company has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $18.95 and its 200 day moving average is $18.75. OceanFirst Financial has a 52 week low of $16.29 and a 52 week high of $20.61.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43. The company had revenue of $131.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.62 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 5.94%. Research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,409,103 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $61,499,000 after purchasing an additional 179,364 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,383,588 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $24,960,000 after buying an additional 181,557 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $484,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 46.0% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 275,825 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $4,976,000 after purchasing an additional 86,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $500,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corporation NASDAQ: OCFC is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company's core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.

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