OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $20.83 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.83.

Several research firms have recently commented on OCFC. Hovde Group lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $18.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.99 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $18.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.35. OceanFirst Financial has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 48.49%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,566,000 after buying an additional 34,458 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after buying an additional 223,203 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,421,373 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $26,428,000 after buying an additional 27,579 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 28.2% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,519 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 6,496 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.