OceanFirst Financial’s (OCFC) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at DA Davidson

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by research analysts at DA Davidson in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $22.00 price target on the savings and loans company’s stock. DA Davidson’s price target points to a potential upside of 7.58% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Hovde Group lifted their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.75.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.45. 56,737 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 297,224. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. OceanFirst Financial has a twelve month low of $14.03 and a twelve month high of $21.87. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.33.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In other 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 transaction of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $26,428,000 after buying an additional 27,579 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $20,130,000 after buying an additional 925,283 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,196,000 after purchasing an additional 164,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,049,000 after purchasing an additional 89,099 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.