Brokerages Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) PT at $18.90

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $18.90.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down previously from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 54.8% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 16,255 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 5,755 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 254.6% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 40,214 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $639,000 after acquiring an additional 28,874 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 48,292 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $767,000 after acquiring an additional 5,388 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% during the second 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 last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 40.6% in the second quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 18,589 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 5,370 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

OCFC stock opened at $18.27 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 10.68 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.05. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $12.01 and a 12-month high of $18.98.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.85% and a net margin of 14.78%. The business had revenue of $170.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.93 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.