Invesco Ltd. Boosts Stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,010 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 2.87% of OceanFirst Financial worth $30,322,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OCFC. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1,009.6% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $100,000 after acquiring an additional 5,048 shares during the last quarter. EMC Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6,001.3% during the 4th quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,152 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 9,002 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 911.7% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,542 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 9,500 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OCFC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Hovde Group decreased their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $15.75 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.89 and a 200-day moving average of $18.17. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $937.90 million, a P/E ratio of 9.55 and a beta of 0.94.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.