OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.83.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on OCFC shares. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 71,504 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,329,000 after buying an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,454 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $352,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 11,728 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 882 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 32,732 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 14,564 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.03. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $17.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.46.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. Equities analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.48%.

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.