OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Stephens

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $22.00 price target on the savings and loans company’s stock. Stephens’ target price suggests a potential upside of 16.46% from the stock’s previous close.

OCFC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.75.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of OCFC traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $18.89. 34,675 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 285,941. OceanFirst Financial has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $21.87. 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 $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.80 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.24.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. On average, analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 5.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $20,130,000 after purchasing an additional 925,283 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,074,000 after purchasing an additional 157,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,049,000 after purchasing an additional 89,099 shares during 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.