OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Shares Purchased by Boston Partners

Boston Partners lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,391,127 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,966 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 2.37% of OceanFirst Financial worth $22,505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OCFC. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the first quarter worth about $150,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 80,523 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 4,250 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 143,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,347,000 after buying an additional 3,600 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after acquiring an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 4.2 %

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock traded down $0.73 during trading on Friday, reaching $16.55. 441,248 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 395,793. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1-year low of $12.01 and a 1-year high of $18.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $971.65 million, a PE ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $15.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.78.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.03). OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.78% and a return on equity of 5.87%. The firm had revenue of $170.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.83%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on OCFC shares. Raymond James cut their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective (down previously from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.00.

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.