OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 38.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $1.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $18.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 427,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 313,525. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.03 and a fifty-two week high of $21.87. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of OceanFirst Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were 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 owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Raymond James raised OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of 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 assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.