OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $21.76 and last traded at $21.76, with a volume of 11297 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $20.88.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on OCFC. Hovde Group lifted their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.75.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.09. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. The firm had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.79 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.71%.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of OceanFirst Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $20,130,000 after purchasing an additional 925,283 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $15,196,000 after purchasing an additional 164,626 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,027,000 after purchasing an additional 105,764 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.