Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Reduces Stock Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 23.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 136,883 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 41,911 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $2,328,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 807.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,843 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $57,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $65,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1,009.6% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 5,048 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $183,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $17.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $16.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.62. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $14.10 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $95.66 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. Equities research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.29%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on OCFC. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.67.

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.