Quarry LP Takes $57,000 Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 3,153 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in OCFC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,454 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $352,000 after purchasing an additional 716 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,036.4% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 94,274 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after buying an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Finally, Bailard Inc. boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 44,371 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $803,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OCFC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James cut their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Hovde Group lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.67.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $16.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $16.53 and its 200-day moving average is $18.07. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a one year low of $14.03 and a one year high of $21.87. The firm has a market cap of $973.21 million, a P/E ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 0.94.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $95.66 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.29%.

OceanFirst Financial 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.