OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC Shares Sold by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans trimmed its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 39.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 132,831 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 86,644 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $2,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 10,285 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.9% during the first quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 26,272 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $448,000 after acquiring an additional 734 shares during the period. EMC Capital Management grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.7% during the second quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,952 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $175,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 20,548 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,961 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on OCFC. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price (up from $21.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Zacks Research upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, DA Davidson raised OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $21.60.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $19.73 on Wednesday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $14.29 and a 1 year high of $20.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business’s fifty day moving average is $18.80 and its 200-day moving average is $18.14. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 1.10.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 14th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $93.08 million during the quarter. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.02% and a net margin of 11.77%. Equities analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 62.02%.

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.