OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC Shares Sold by GW&K Investment Management LLC

GW&K Investment Management LLC cut its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,252,035 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 29,835 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned 2.18% of OceanFirst Financial worth $22,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 34,193 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $582,000 after buying an additional 1,461 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 5.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 140,481 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,390,000 after buying an additional 7,359 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 8.6% in the first 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 worth $2,417,000 after buying an additional 11,262 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 107.0% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 88,353 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,503,000 after buying an additional 45,673 shares during the period. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 15.6% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 24,450 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $431,000 after buying an additional 3,295 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson raised their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.67.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $18.29 on Thursday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a twelve month low of $16.09 and a twelve month high of $20.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.62 and a 200-day moving average of $18.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $103.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.25 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 10.04% and a return on equity of 5.35%. Analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

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

About OceanFirst Financial

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.