Wall Street Zen Upgrades OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) to Hold

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on OCFC. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson cut OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Raymond James Financial downgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.33.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Up 2.1%

OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $18.62 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $18.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.25. OceanFirst Financial has a 1-year low of $14.29 and a 1-year high of $20.61. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $104.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $103.20 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.14% and a net margin of 10.33%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of OceanFirst Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in OCFC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,407,118 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $61,158,000 after purchasing an additional 9,154 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 97.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,388,304 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $41,963,000 after buying an additional 1,181,553 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,874,457 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $32,934,000 after acquiring an additional 57,246 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,662,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $29,213,000 after acquiring an additional 191,383 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 1.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 14,590 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

About OceanFirst Financial

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.