O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC - Free Report) by 27.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,665 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 30,373 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned about 0.24% of OceanFirst Financial worth $2,546,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% during 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. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,055 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 94,274 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 4.7% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 41,905 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on OCFC shares. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. Hovde Group reduced their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $21.00.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $15.32. 34,990 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 290,374. 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $17.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.37. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87. The company has a market capitalization of $897.21 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.29 and a beta of 0.94.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. On average, equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial's payout ratio is 48.48%.

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.