OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $21.21 and last traded at $21.21, with a volume of 9232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.07.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.30.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 1.01. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $18.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.76.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,635,000 after acquiring an additional 223,203 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the second 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 in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after purchasing an additional 105,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 272,243 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after purchasing an additional 66,918 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.