OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.3333.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. DA Davidson downgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 1.2%

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.51. OceanFirst Financial has a twelve month low of $14.29 and a twelve month high of $20.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.20 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.33%.The business had revenue of $104.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $103.20 million. As a group, research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 68.97%.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 18.7% in the third quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 897,091 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,762,000 after acquiring an additional 141,463 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,662,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $29,213,000 after purchasing an additional 191,383 shares during the period. Kestrel Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $3,587,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,340,968 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,614,000 after purchasing an additional 14,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 124.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 89,374 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 49,571 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

OceanFirst Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: OCFC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company’s core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.