Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,920 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 2,354 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 83,017 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after buying an additional 19,478 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 911.7% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 10,542 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 9,500 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 85.3% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 43,078 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $780,000 after acquiring an additional 19,827 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 44,371 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $803,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $446,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OCFC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson reaffirmed 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 decreased their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.83.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $17.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $995.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.03. 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 Corp. 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 $17.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.45.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 48.48%.

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.