The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires Shares of 489,306 OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 489,306 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,556,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 16.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 493,623 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $8,905,000 after purchasing an additional 68,347 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $194,135,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 worth $61,499,000 after purchasing an additional 179,364 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,676,000. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,383,588 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $24,960,000 after purchasing an additional 181,557 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $18.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12-month low of $17.05 and a 12-month high of $20.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $19.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.34% and a net margin of 6.38%.The business had revenue of $131.33 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.62 million. Analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director John R. Buran sold 113,463 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.40, for a total transaction of $2,201,182.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.50.

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

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.