OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $19.07 and last traded at $19.07, with a volume of 39797 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.43.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group increased their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.90.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $17.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.78 and a beta of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $170.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.93 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 5.85%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,196,000 after acquiring an additional 164,626 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,828,000 after buying an additional 158,590 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after buying an additional 105,764 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 272,243 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after buying an additional 66,918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,046,061 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $18,160,000 after buying an additional 66,868 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.