The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $382,000 Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 29.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,557 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 8,507 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $382,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the second quarter valued at about $441,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 69.7% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,299 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 9,159 shares in the last quarter. Addison Capital Co lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% during the second quarter. Addison Capital Co now owns 156,479 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,486,000 after purchasing an additional 2,655 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 498,113 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,915,000 after purchasing an additional 21,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $218,000. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on OCFC. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.42.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $19.40 on Monday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $21.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.60.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

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.