OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Analyst Says

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target suggests a potential upside of 8.06% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on OCFC. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $20.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average is $19.22 and its 200-day moving average is $17.37. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $21.87.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. The business had revenue of $96.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.79 million. Sell-side analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of OceanFirst Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 587.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,082,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $20,130,000 after acquiring an additional 925,283 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 733,441 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,635,000 after purchasing an additional 223,203 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in OceanFirst Financial by 20.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 956,320 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $15,196,000 after purchasing an additional 164,626 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 24.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 807,280 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,828,000 after purchasing an additional 158,590 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,027,000 after buying an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

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.