OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on OCFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an outperform rating and issued a $19.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Monday. Stephens restated an equal weight rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday. Raymond James lowered their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $18.20.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $14.98 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $891.79 million, a P/E ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.39. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $12.01 and a fifty-two week high of $19.58.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,240.5% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 3,213 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 19.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $176,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 12,725 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $184,000 after buying an additional 3,796 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.