OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s What Happened

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low on Monday. The company traded as low as $15.65 and last traded at $15.6650, with a volume of 238,820 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $15.83.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler cut their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $18.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.33.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37 and a beta of 1.02.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.34% and a net margin of 6.38%. The company had revenue of $131.33 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.62 million. Equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.76 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.1%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 94.12%.

Insider Activity

In other OceanFirst Financial news, EVP Brian Schaeffer sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.91, for a total value of $104,005.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 83,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,570,815.88. This trade represents a 6.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John R. Buran sold 113,463 shares of OceanFirst Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.40, for a total transaction of $2,201,182.20. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 5.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $194,135,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,114,069 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $80,348,000 after buying an additional 1,518,636 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,409,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $61,499,000 after buying an additional 179,364 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in OceanFirst Financial by 15.1% during the first quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,383,588 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $24,960,000 after buying an additional 181,557 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter valued at about $12,593,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

About OceanFirst Financial

OceanFirst Financial Corp. is the bank holding company for OceanFirst Bank, a community-focused financial institution headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey. The company provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and nonprofit organizations through its branch network and digital banking channels.

OceanFirst Bank offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market and certificate accounts, along with residential mortgage, home equity, commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, consumer and small-business loans.