OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.6667.

Several research firms recently issued reports on OCFC. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 1.9%

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $18.14 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $18.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. OceanFirst Financial has a 12 month low of $16.09 and a 12 month high of $20.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.50 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.04. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 10.04% and a return on equity of 5.35%. The business had revenue of $103.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.25 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, April 27th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 27th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is presently 68.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,193 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 140,481 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,390,000 after purchasing an additional 7,359 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 142,122 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,417,000 after purchasing an additional 11,262 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 107.0% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 88,353 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after purchasing an additional 45,673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 24,450 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 3,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.