OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Given “Equal Weight” Rating at Stephens

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $22.00 target price on the savings and loans company’s stock.

OCFC has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $18.81 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.27. OceanFirst Financial has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. Equities analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,566,000 after acquiring an additional 34,458 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 272,243 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after acquiring an additional 66,918 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,635,000 after acquiring an additional 223,203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,421,373 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $26,428,000 after purchasing an additional 27,579 shares in 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.