Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC Sells 62,500 Shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 750,770 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 62,500 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $13,957,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 3,055 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the second quarter valued at $62,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 437.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,525 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 8,565 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OCFC stock opened at $20.27 on Wednesday. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $21.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $19.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.01.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is 45.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on OCFC. Hovde Group increased their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.75.

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.