Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 164.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 295,234 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 183,796 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $5,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 24.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,096 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 2,411 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 25,990 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 3,332 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 30.3% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 21,213 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 4,938 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 54.1% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 31,851 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $640,000 after buying an additional 11,187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 23.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,917 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 4.0 %

OCFC stock opened at $15.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $12.01 and a 1-year high of $19.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.37. The company has a market capitalization of $903.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $99.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $97.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 6.19%. Research analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on OCFC. StockNews.com lowered OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. TheStreet raised OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.50.

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.