Farther Finance Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 911.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 10,542 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,500 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $191,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of OCFC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 14.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,241,191 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $23,074,000 after acquiring an additional 157,711 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 10.8% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 917,085 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $17,049,000 after acquiring an additional 89,099 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 13.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 299,434 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,566,000 after acquiring an additional 34,458 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the fourth quarter valued at $575,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, January 24th. Hovde Group dropped their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James raised OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.83.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $17.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $14.03 and a 1 year high of $21.87. The company has a market capitalization of $999.57 million, a PE ratio of 10.35 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $17.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.45.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 14.45% and a return on equity of 5.75%. As a group, analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.69%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.48%.

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.