Stephens Reaffirms “Equal Weight” Rating for OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Stephens reaffirmed their equal weight rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $20.00 target price on the savings and loans company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on OCFC. StockNews.com cut shares of OceanFirst Financial from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $18.50.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OCFC opened at $15.18 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.39. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $12.01 and a fifty-two week high of $19.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $903.67 million, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced 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. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The firm had revenue of $99.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $97.26 million. Equities analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 46.78%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 59,404 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1.9% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 40,494 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 531 shares in the last quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 25,314 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $439,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 42,300 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 800 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.