OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.76 and last traded at $21.76, with a volume of 11297 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

OCFC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.75.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 0.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $18.89 and its 200 day moving average is $17.16.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. Equities analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.71%.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $57,027,000 after acquiring an additional 105,764 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,421,373 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $26,428,000 after purchasing an additional 27,579 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $22,505,000 after buying an additional 42,966 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $20,130,000 after buying an additional 925,283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,196,000 after buying an additional 164,626 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.