Foundry Partners LLC Acquires 2,525 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Foundry Partners LLC increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 19.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 15,194 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,525 shares during the period. Foundry Partners LLC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of OCFC. CRA Financial Services LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC now owns 25,314 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $439,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 42,300 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 19.3% in the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 9,579 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 130,733 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,892,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on OCFC shares. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. TheStreet raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.20.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $14.98 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $891.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.76 and a beta of 1.00. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $12.01 and a 12 month high of $19.58. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.78%.

OceanFirst Financial 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.