Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) Price Target to $22.00

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $21.00 to $22.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 7.95% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday. 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.42.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of OCFC traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $20.38. 88,566 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 297,392. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.33. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. OceanFirst Financial has a 1 year low of $14.03 and a 1 year high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 6.08%. The company had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. This represents a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 3.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,475,107 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,027,000 after purchasing an additional 105,764 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 80,523 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,323,000 after purchasing an additional 4,250 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 437.0% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,525 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 8,565 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $441,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 8.9% during the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 182,739 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,904,000 after buying an additional 14,987 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About OceanFirst Financial

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.