OceanFirst Financial (OCFC) Competitors

Banner (NASDAQ:BANR) and OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) are both finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and risk.

Is BANR or OCFC more profitable?

Banner has a net margin of 21.15% compared to OceanFirst Financial's net margin of 12.89%. Banner's return on equity of 10.06% beat OceanFirst Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banner	21.15%	10.06%	1.13%
OceanFirst Financial	12.89%	5.22%	0.66%

Do analysts recommend BANR or OCFC?

Banner presently has a consensus price target of $70.17, indicating a potential upside of 6.09%. OceanFirst Financial has a consensus price target of $20.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.05%. Given OceanFirst Financial's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe OceanFirst Financial is more favorable than Banner.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banner	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
OceanFirst Financial	1 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

Which has more risk & volatility, BANR or OCFC?

Banner has a beta of 0.95, suggesting that its share price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OceanFirst Financial has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in BANR or OCFC?

87.3% of Banner shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Banner shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.1% of OceanFirst Financial shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is BANR or OCFC a better dividend stock?

Banner pays an annual dividend of $1.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. OceanFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Banner pays out 36.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OceanFirst Financial pays out 56.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Does the media refer more to BANR or OCFC?

In the previous week, OceanFirst Financial had 3 more articles in the media than Banner. MarketBeat recorded 9 mentions for OceanFirst Financial and 6 mentions for Banner. OceanFirst Financial's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Banner's score of 0.85 indicating that OceanFirst Financial is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Banner	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
OceanFirst Financial	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, BANR or OCFC?

Banner has higher earnings, but lower revenue than OceanFirst Financial. Banner is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than OceanFirst Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banner	$630.68M	3.63	$168.90M	$5.25	12.60
OceanFirst Financial	$692.36M	1.50	$100.07M	$1.41	12.85

Summary

Banner beats OceanFirst Financial on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.