Systematic Financial Management LP Buys 47,561 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 964,646 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,561 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $17,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,228,902 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $58,442,000 after acquiring an additional 53,476 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,675,259 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $30,322,000 after purchasing an additional 67,010 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,208,800 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $21,879,000 after purchasing an additional 121,923 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 763,840 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,826,000 after purchasing an additional 30,399 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 733,190 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,400,000 after purchasing an additional 20,249 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $17.55 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 0.99.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The savings and loans company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.75% and a net margin of 14.45%. The company had revenue of $97.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $95.66 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is presently 52.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

OCFC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James decreased their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $24.00 to $21.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Hovde Group decreased their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.67.

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.