OceanFirst Financial Corp. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.20 (NASDAQ:OCFC)

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 38.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $1.60 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.0%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

OceanFirst Financial stock traded down $0.34 on Friday, reaching $18.81. 427,368 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 313,525. 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 twelve month low of $14.03 and a twelve month high of $21.87. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.24. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. This trade represents a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Friday. Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.75.

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.