OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Position Boosted by Versant Capital Management Inc

Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 1,036.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $27,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after acquiring an additional 157,711 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 11.6% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 79,571 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 8,253 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,566,000 after purchasing an additional 34,458 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 71,504 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,329,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on OCFC shares. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group raised their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.42.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $17.91 on Wednesday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $14.03 and a 1 year high of $21.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.23 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $19.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.00. 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 announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. As a group, research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other OceanFirst Financial news, 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 value of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.