OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 38.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $1.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $18.81 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.27. OceanFirst Financial has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. On average, analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on OCFC shares. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value 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 represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.