Brokerages Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Price Target at $20.83

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.83.

OCFC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Hovde Group reduced their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $17.11 on Friday. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $21.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.46. The firm has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.37 and a beta of 1.03.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. Equities analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after acquiring an additional 157,711 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,566,000 after purchasing an additional 34,458 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 223,203 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,421,373 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $26,428,000 after buying an additional 27,579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,519 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 6,496 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.