Commerce Bank Sells 625 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Commerce Bank lowered its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 3.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,890 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 625 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $351,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 59,216.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 51,012 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 50,926 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% in the second 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. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 105.9% during the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 69,981 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,112,000 after acquiring an additional 35,994 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $21.15 on Wednesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $18.83 and a 200-day moving average of $17.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 1.01. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $13.41 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on shares of 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 boosted their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

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.