OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $19.07 and last traded at $19.07, with a volume of 39797 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $18.43.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group upped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Four 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 $18.90.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.30. The company has a market cap of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $170.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $94.93 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.85% and a net margin of 14.78%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 455.5% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 71,704 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,177,000 after purchasing an additional 58,795 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $22,505,000 after buying an additional 42,966 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 59,216.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 51,012 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $837,000 after buying an additional 50,926 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $57,027,000 after buying an additional 105,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 32.6% in 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 buying an additional 66,918 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is owned by 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.