Insider Selling: OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Director Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $20.49 on Friday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $13.41 and a 12 month high of $21.34. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. The firm had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. Equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on OCFC. Hovde Group lifted their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 period. Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $22,505,000 after buying an additional 42,966 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $20,130,000 after buying an additional 925,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,196,000 after buying an additional 164,626 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.