OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

OCFC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson cut OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Zacks Research raised OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Raymond James Financial cut OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.60.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $19.19 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.26. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $14.29 and a fifty-two week high of $20.61. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $104.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.20 million. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 5.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 3.0% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 398,036 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,009,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,340,968 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,614,000 after purchasing an additional 14,590 shares during the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,182,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $282,000. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 124.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 89,374 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,574,000 after purchasing an additional 49,571 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about OceanFirst Financial

Here are the key news stories impacting OceanFirst Financial this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Beat vs. consensus on core EPS and revenue — the company reported core diluted EPS of $0.41 (Zacks consensus $0.39) and revenue slightly above estimates, which supports near?term investor confidence in underlying earnings power. OCFC Surpasses Q4 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Strong loan growth and improving net interest performance — total loans grew sharply (quarterly increase cited at ~$474M) and net interest income rose ~5% QoQ, with NIM improving to ~2.87% (quarter) / 2.90% (year), which should support future core income. Q4 Earnings with Strong Loan Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic items that add optionality — the board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 and management highlighted a pending merger with Flushing Financial plus an investment from Warburg Pincus aimed at scale and performance improvements; both can be value?accretive if completed. Reports Mixed Earnings, Declares Dividend
• Neutral Sentiment: Credit risk transfer & capital impact — management executed a credit risk transfer on a $1.5B residential loan pool that materially reduced risk?weighted assets and helped CET1 (~10.7%), which improves regulatory capital metrics but is a one?time technical adjustment. Quarterly and Annual Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call and investor guidance cadence — management scheduled an earnings call and emphasized 2026 focus areas (merger integration, profitability initiatives); useful for forward guidance but outcomes depend on future execution. Earnings Release / Conference Call
• Negative Sentiment: GAAP profitability materially lower — GAAP net income fell to $13.1M (GAAP diluted EPS $0.23) in Q4 and full?year net income declined to $67.1M ($1.17) vs. $96.0M ($1.65) the prior year, weighing on headline earnings metrics and valuation multiples. Q4 Earnings: Key Metrics vs Estimates
• Negative Sentiment: Rising expenses and one?time charges — operating expenses jumped due to $7.4M of restructuring charges, ~$4.3M of merger?related expenses and other non?core items, pushing the efficiency ratio higher (~80.4%) and pressuring near?term margins and ROE. Earnings with Restructuring & Merger Costs
• Negative Sentiment: Asset?quality and provisioning trends — modestly higher net charge?offs and an increase in 30–89 day delinquencies (including one commercial relationship) offset improvements in non?performing loans, creating some near?term credit uncertainty. Asset Quality Details

OceanFirst Financial Company Profile

OceanFirst Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: OCFC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company’s core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.