OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Stephens

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reissued by analysts at Stephens in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $20.00 price target on the savings and loans company’s stock. Stephens’ price target suggests a potential upside of 33.60% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. TheStreet upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC traded up $0.38 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $14.97. 78,544 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 322,629. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $891.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.79 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $15.35 and a 200 day moving average of $15.36. OceanFirst Financial has a 1 year low of $12.01 and a 1 year high of $19.58.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $99.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 16.21% and a return on equity of 6.65%. On average, analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 59,404 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC now owns 23,502 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $438,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.3% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 40,494 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 25,314 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $439,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 42,300 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $734,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the period. 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.