Cerity Partners LLC Makes New $599,000 Investment in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 34,506 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $599,000. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of OceanFirst Financial as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,394,141 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $19,660,000 after purchasing an additional 139,646 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $1,015,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 695,344 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after purchasing an additional 43,649 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 517,771 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,492,000 after purchasing an additional 76,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 143.3% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 380,529 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 224,146 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OCFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Monday. Raymond James dropped their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.20.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $15.47 on Thursday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $12.01 and a 1-year high of $19.58. The stock has a market cap of $920.93 million, a PE ratio of 9.05 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

OceanFirst Financial 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.