Analysts Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Price Target at $20.67

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.67.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on OCFC shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $58,442,000 after acquiring an additional 53,476 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $30,322,000 after purchasing an additional 67,010 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,208,800 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $21,879,000 after purchasing an additional 121,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 964,646 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,460,000 after buying an additional 47,561 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $16.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $990.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.28 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.03. OceanFirst Financial has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. As a group, research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.29%.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

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.