OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) from a moderate buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Hovde Group upped 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. 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

OCFC stock opened at $17.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. OceanFirst Financial has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 10.17 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.69.

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

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.50%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of OCFC. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 498,113 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,915,000 after acquiring an additional 21,765 shares during the period. Bailard Inc. purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the second quarter valued at about $218,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.5% in the second quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 35,758 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $568,000 after buying an additional 2,794 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 633.7% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 17,639 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 15,235 shares in the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.