OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Director John Buran Sells 113,463 Shares

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Director John Buran sold 113,463 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.40, for a total transaction of $2,201,182.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $19.08 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $19.04 and a 200 day moving average of $18.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45 and a beta of 0.99. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $16.35 and a 12 month high of $20.61.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 5.94%. The business had revenue of $131.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.62 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.2%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

OCFC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $21.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $21.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth about $194,135,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,409,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $61,499,000 after purchasing an additional 179,364 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,407,118 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $61,158,000 after purchasing an additional 9,154 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,265,615 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $58,618,000 after buying an additional 877,311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,976,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: OCFC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company’s core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.