Royce & Associates LP Increases Stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 223,203 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $13,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after buying an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 59,216.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 51,012 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $837,000 after acquiring an additional 50,926 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after purchasing an additional 105,764 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% in the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 272,243 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after acquiring an additional 66,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 105.9% during the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 69,981 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 35,994 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.30.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC opened at $20.49 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 1.01. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $13.41 and a 12-month high of $21.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. On average, analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

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.