OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Raymond James Financial lowered OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. DA Davidson cut shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $22.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.60.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC stock opened at $18.33 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.25. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.29 and a fifty-two week high of $20.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 14.21 and a beta of 1.07.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $102.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.56 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.02% and a net margin of 11.77%. Analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter worth $40,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 458.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 8,526 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $150,000 after acquiring an additional 6,998 shares during the last quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $155,000. EMC Capital Management raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,952 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings 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 valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.