OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $20.42 Average Price Target from Analysts

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.42.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group increased their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,421,373 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $26,428,000 after purchasing an additional 27,579 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,074,000 after buying an additional 157,711 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 925,283 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 164,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,049,000 after acquiring an additional 89,099 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 1.3 %

OCFC stock opened at $18.05 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 1.04. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87. The business has a 50-day moving average of $19.41 and a 200-day moving average of $17.93.

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

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

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.