OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Announces $0.20 Quarterly Dividend

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 41.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $1.97 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.6%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $15.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $898.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.01. OceanFirst Financial has a 1-year low of $12.01 and a 1-year high of $19.58. The company’s fifty day moving average is $15.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $15.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on OCFC. StockNews.com upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James lowered their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. TheStreet upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.20.

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.