OceanFirst Financial Corp. (OCFC) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 3rd

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a payout ratio of 37.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $2.09 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 38.3%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $15.18 on Friday. OceanFirst Financial has a 52-week low of $12.01 and a 52-week high of $19.58. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $903.67 million, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The business had revenue of $99.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.26 million. On average, research analysts predict that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, OceanFirst Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $18.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OceanFirst Financial

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 162.1% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,562 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 118.6% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,974 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 279.6% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,331 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,717 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 1,240.5% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 3,213 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 23.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,917 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 919 shares during the period. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

OceanFirst Financial Company 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.