Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 20,000 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,000 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of OceanFirst Financial worth $3,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 71,504 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $1,329,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 137,196 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,180,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,023 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.9% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 17,815 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.5% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 14,564 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OCFC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at OceanFirst Financial

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of OceanFirst Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

OCFC traded up $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $18.76. The company had a trading volume of 201,961 shares, compared to its average volume of 271,906. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $19.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.15. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a one year low of $14.03 and a one year high of $21.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.72 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. As a group, equities analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

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.