OceanFirst Financial (OCFC) Competitors

Brookline Bancorp (NASDAQ:BRKL) and OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, media sentiment, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, community ranking and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor BRKL or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial received 59 more outperform votes than Brookline Bancorp when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 57.89% of users gave Brookline Bancorp an outperform vote while only 56.02% of users gave OceanFirst Financial an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Brookline Bancorp	Outperform Votes 220 57.89%	Underperform Votes 160 42.11%
OceanFirst Financial	Outperform Votes 279 56.02%	Underperform Votes 219 43.98%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in BRKL or OCFC?

78.9% of Brookline Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Brookline Bancorp shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of OceanFirst Financial shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is BRKL or OCFC more profitable?

OceanFirst Financial has a net margin of 15.28% compared to Brookline Bancorp's net margin of 11.40%. Brookline Bancorp's return on equity of 6.20% beat OceanFirst Financial's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brookline Bancorp	11.40%	6.20%	0.65%
OceanFirst Financial	15.28%	6.08%	0.76%

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, BRKL or OCFC?

OceanFirst Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Brookline Bancorp. OceanFirst Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brookline Bancorp, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Brookline Bancorp	$609.22M	1.76	$75M	$0.83	14.49
OceanFirst Financial	$641.60M	1.82	$104.03M	$1.75	11.42

Do analysts rate BRKL or OCFC?

Brookline Bancorp currently has a consensus price target of $11.50, indicating a potential downside of 4.41%. OceanFirst Financial has a consensus price target of $19.75, indicating a potential downside of 1.15%. Given OceanFirst Financial's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe OceanFirst Financial is more favorable than Brookline Bancorp.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brookline Bancorp	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
OceanFirst Financial	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more volatility & risk, BRKL or OCFC?

Brookline Bancorp has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its share price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, OceanFirst Financial has a beta of 1.01, suggesting that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media refer more to BRKL or OCFC?

In the previous week, OceanFirst Financial had 9 more articles in the media than Brookline Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for OceanFirst Financial and 1 mentions for Brookline Bancorp. Brookline Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.91 beat OceanFirst Financial's score of 1.00 indicating that Brookline Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brookline Bancorp	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
OceanFirst Financial	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is BRKL or OCFC a better dividend stock?

Brookline Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.54 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.5%. OceanFirst Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.0%. Brookline Bancorp pays out 65.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. OceanFirst Financial pays out 45.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

OceanFirst Financial beats Brookline Bancorp on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.