Empowered Funds LLC Trims Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Empowered Funds LLC trimmed its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 126,678 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 27,190 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.22% of OceanFirst Financial worth $2,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners increased its position 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 worth $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 59,216.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 51,012 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 50,926 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 272,243 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $4,326,000 after buying an additional 66,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased 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 valued at $1,112,000 after buying an additional 35,994 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on OCFC. Hovde Group upped 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. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $19.75.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC traded down $0.37 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $19.75. The stock had a trading volume of 55,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 301,185. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $18.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.98. 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 Corp. has a one year low of $13.41 and a one year high of $21.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.50 and a beta of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. As a group, research analysts expect 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 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the company'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 transaction, the director now owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.