OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) Shares Sold by Caxton Associates LP

Caxton Associates LP lessened its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 58.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,219 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 18,306 shares during the quarter. Caxton Associates LP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% during the 1st 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. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,046,061 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $18,160,000 after purchasing an additional 66,868 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,391 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,485,000 after purchasing an additional 139,047 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 164.9% during the 4th quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 295,234 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $5,125,000 after purchasing an additional 183,796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 210,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $3,446,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OCFC traded up $0.47 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.39. 177,978 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 318,324. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $12.01 and a 52 week high of $19.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $15.73 and a 200 day moving average of $15.74. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 1.03.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $170.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.93 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 5.87% and a net margin of 14.78%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.35%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on OCFC shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective (down previously from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday, May 31st. StockNews.com upgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.00.

Insider Activity at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, EVP Brian Schaeffer sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.49, for a total transaction of $54,215.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 41,868 shares in the company, valued at approximately $648,535.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.