OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Price Target Raised to $21.50

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) had its price objective hoisted by Hovde Group from $19.50 to $21.50 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the savings and loans company’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a market perform rating and issued a $18.00 target price (down from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $18.90.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 3.7 %

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $18.21 on Friday. OceanFirst Financial has a twelve month low of $12.01 and a twelve month high of $18.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $17.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.98.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $170.41 million for 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 16th. Investors of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of OCFC. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $62,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter worth $150,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 437.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,525 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 8,565 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.