OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $21.60.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on OCFC shares. Zacks Research raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson started coverage on OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $19.00 target price on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $20.00 to $22.00 in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Monday, October 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter worth about $624,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,516,177 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $59,810,000 after purchasing an additional 61,515 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 398,036 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,009,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the period. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 100,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Third Avenue Management LLC boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 91.7% during the 1st quarter. Third Avenue Management LLC now owns 116,643 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,984,000 after purchasing an additional 55,784 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $20.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. OceanFirst Financial has a 1-year low of $14.29 and a 1-year high of $20.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $18.52 and a 200-day moving average of $17.97.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 14th. The savings and loans company reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.02% and a net margin of 11.77%.The firm had revenue of $93.08 million for the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Monday, November 3rd were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.02%.

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.