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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 37.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $2.09 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 38.3%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $15.18 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.37. The company has a market cap of $903.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. OceanFirst Financial has a 52 week low of $12.01 and a 52 week high of $19.58.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $99.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 6.19%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 162.1% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,562 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 118.6% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,974 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 279.6% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,331 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 1,240.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 3,213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can lifted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 23.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,917 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.