OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Stock Position Lessened by Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc.

Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 652,153 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 148,381 shares during the period. OceanFirst Financial accounts for about 3.8% of Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $11,804,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Trexquant Investment LP lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 59.2% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 115,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,093,000 after purchasing an additional 43,019 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 94,007 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 14,436 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 140,665 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,546,000 after buying an additional 30,373 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 45,257 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $819,000 after buying an additional 3,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $539,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on OCFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group decreased their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James raised shares of 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 set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Five 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. According to MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.83.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $17.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $17.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.45. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52-week low of $14.03 and a 52-week high of $21.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $995.47 million, a P/E ratio of 10.30 and a beta of 1.03.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 48.48%.

OceanFirst Financial 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.