Brokerages Set OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Target Price at $20.83

Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.83.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Hovde Group decreased their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after buying an additional 223,203 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 98.3% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,737 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $144,000 after purchasing an additional 3,835 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 28.8% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 63,539 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 14,199 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the third quarter valued at about $192,000. Finally, Foundry Partners LLC boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 8.5% during the third quarter. Foundry Partners LLC now owns 14,564 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 3.2 %

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $17.31 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $17.97 and a 200 day moving average of $18.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.49 and a beta of 1.03. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $21.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. As a group, research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.62%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.48%.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

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.