Royce & Associates LP Buys 30,399 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 763,840 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,399 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $13,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 98.3% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,737 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 3,835 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 28.8% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 63,539 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after acquiring an additional 14,199 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $192,000. Foundry Partners LLC lifted 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 valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,145 shares during the period. Finally, John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 12.6% during the 3rd quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. now owns 25,100 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $467,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on OCFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Hovde Group lowered their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.83.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.19 on Tuesday. 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 $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.03. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.47.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.65%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.