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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.67.

OCFC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price 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. 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 report on Monday, April 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $57,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $65,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1,009.6% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $100,000 after buying an additional 5,048 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $183,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.36 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.35 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $16.84 and its 200 day moving average is $17.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. OceanFirst Financial has a 52-week low of $14.29 and a 52-week high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The company had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 5.38%. Sell-side analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.