State Street Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

State Street Corp reduced its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 3.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,677,227 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 56,274 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $31,180,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royce & Associates LP grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after buying an additional 223,203 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the 2nd 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 during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,828,000 after acquiring an additional 158,590 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,049,000 after purchasing an additional 89,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 272,243 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after purchasing an additional 66,918 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $17.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.72. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OCFC has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial 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.