DA Davidson Issues Pessimistic Forecast for OCFC Earnings

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) – Investment analysts at DA Davidson decreased their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report issued on Friday, March 28th. DA Davidson analyst M. Navas now expects that the savings and loans company will earn $1.55 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $1.60. DA Davidson currently has a “Neutral” rating and a $22.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for OceanFirst Financial’s current full-year earnings is $1.60 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for OceanFirst Financial’s FY2026 earnings at $1.90 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on OCFC. Hovde Group lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.83.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC opened at $17.01 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.72 and a 200-day moving average of $18.45. 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 has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The company has a market cap of $996.05 million, a PE ratio of 10.31 and a beta of 1.03.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.70%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.48%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,074,000 after buying an additional 157,711 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,566,000 after acquiring an additional 34,458 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 28.2% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,519 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 6,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.