OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives $19.75 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $20.42.

A number of research firms recently commented on OCFC. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday. Finally, 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at OceanFirst Financial

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,055 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $62,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $20.27 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $19.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.04. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. On average, research analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

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.