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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend 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 dividend 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

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $15.18 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.37. OceanFirst Financial has a twelve month low of $12.01 and a twelve month high of $19.58. The stock has a market cap of $903.67 million, a P/E ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 24.9% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,096 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 25,990 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $522,000 after acquiring an additional 3,332 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,213 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 4,938 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 54.1% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 31,851 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $640,000 after acquiring an additional 11,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,917 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OCFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, TheStreet raised OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

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.