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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a payout ratio of 37.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $2.09 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 38.3%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $15.18 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $15.34 and a 200-day moving average of $15.37. OceanFirst Financial has a 1-year low of $12.01 and a 1-year high of $19.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $903.67 million, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $99.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $97.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 6.19%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $255,000. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $251,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,096 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 258.6% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 10,816 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $200,000 after purchasing an additional 7,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $157,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OCFC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

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.