Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires Shares of 76,688 OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 76,688 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,494,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth about $194,135,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,409,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $61,499,000 after purchasing an additional 179,364 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,407,118 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $61,158,000 after purchasing an additional 9,154 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,265,615 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $58,618,000 after purchasing an additional 877,311 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,976,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on OCFC shares. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective (up from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.50.

Insider Activity at OceanFirst Financial

In other news, Director John R. Buran sold 113,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.40, for a total transaction of $2,201,182.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $18.84 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.79. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $17.05 and a fifty-two week high of $20.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.34% and a net margin of 6.38%.The company had revenue of $131.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.62 million. Analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.12%.

About OceanFirst Financial

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.