Analysts Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Target Price at $18.00

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the five analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.00.

A number of research firms have commented on OCFC. StockNews.com raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down previously from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, May 31st. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In other news, EVP Brian Schaeffer sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total transaction of $54,215.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 41,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $648,535.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OCFC. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 143.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 380,529 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after purchasing an additional 224,146 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 164.9% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 295,234 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,125,000 after acquiring an additional 183,796 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,391 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $14,485,000 after acquiring an additional 139,047 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,701,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $14.79 on Wednesday. OceanFirst Financial has a 1 year low of $12.01 and a 1 year high of $19.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.05 and a 200-day moving average of $15.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $868.32 million, a P/E ratio of 8.65 and a beta of 1.02.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $98.51 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.45 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 6.17%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.41%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

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.