OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Share Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $18.00 and traded as high as $18.35. OceanFirst Financial shares last traded at $18.12, with a volume of 364,788 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Raymond James upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.42.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.00. 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 (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $20,130,000 after buying an additional 925,283 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% in the 2nd 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 period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares during the period. 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.