John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 12.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,100 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the quarter. John G Ullman & Associates Inc.’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter valued at $39,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the second quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter valued at about $150,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $19.98 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $18.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.98. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $13.41 and a 52-week high of $21.34.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on OCFC shares. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.75.

About OceanFirst Financial

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.