OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the six brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.00.

Several brokerages have recently commented on OCFC. Stephens reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Hovde Group dropped their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.3 %

NASDAQ OCFC traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $14.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 333,768 shares, compared to its average volume of 293,971. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $17.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.25. OceanFirst Financial has a twelve month low of $14.03 and a twelve month high of $21.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $864.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95 and a beta of 0.94.

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OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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%. Analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.48%.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $58,442,000 after acquiring an additional 53,476 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $30,322,000 after purchasing an additional 67,010 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the third 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $23,074,000 after buying an additional 157,711 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,208,800 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $21,879,000 after buying an additional 121,923 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company's stock.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.