Point72 DIFC Ltd Purchases Shares of 2,210 OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,210 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 164,626 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 498,113 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,915,000 after buying an additional 21,765 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% during 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 buying an additional 66,918 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $19.88 on Tuesday. 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 Corp. has a one year low of $14.03 and a one year high of $21.87. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.04.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. On average, research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 45.71%.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on OCFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group upped their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.42.

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.