Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Sells 62,500 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lessened its position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 750,770 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 62,500 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC owned about 1.28% of OceanFirst Financial worth $13,957,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after buying an additional 105,764 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $15,196,000 after purchasing an additional 164,626 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.6% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 498,113 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,915,000 after purchasing an additional 21,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $20.27 on Wednesday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.04.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. The company had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.79 million. Research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 45.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.