AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 24.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $12,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OCFC. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 164,626 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $57,027,000 after buying an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $4,326,000 after buying an additional 66,918 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,046,061 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $18,160,000 after buying an additional 66,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 455.5% during the 1st quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 71,704 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,177,000 after buying an additional 58,795 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 3.8 %

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $12.01 and a fifty-two week high of $18.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.11.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.03). OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 5.85%. The firm had revenue of $170.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.93 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group raised their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.90.

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.