OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $20.83 Average Target Price from Brokerages

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four 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. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $20.83.

Several research analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Hovde Group cut their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 3.2 %

OCFC stock opened at $17.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 1.03. OceanFirst Financial has a one year low of $14.03 and a one year high of $21.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $17.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.47. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. As a group, analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 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, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 48.48%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $58,442,000 after purchasing an additional 53,476 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $30,322,000 after purchasing an additional 67,010 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% during the 3rd 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 157,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,208,800 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $21,879,000 after acquiring an additional 121,923 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.98% 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.