OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $21.21 and last traded at $21.21, with a volume of 9232 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on OCFC. Hovde Group increased their price objective on OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $19.30.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 11.98 and a beta of 1.01. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.20 and a 200-day moving average of $16.76.

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

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $62,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.