Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 658 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 137,196 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 658 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $2,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of OCFC. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,046,061 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $18,160,000 after purchasing an additional 66,868 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $15,196,000 after purchasing an additional 164,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,391 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,485,000 after purchasing an additional 139,047 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $18.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $12.01 and a 12-month high of $18.98. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.97.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $170.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.93 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 5.85%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 price target (down previously from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Hovde Group lifted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.90.

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.