Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Has $5.13 Million Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 164.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 295,234 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 183,796 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC owned about 0.50% of OceanFirst Financial worth $5,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,394,141 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $19,660,000 after purchasing an additional 139,646 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter valued at about $1,015,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in OceanFirst Financial by 6.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 695,344 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $10,062,000 after acquiring an additional 43,649 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 143.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 380,529 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,506,000 after acquiring an additional 224,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 517,771 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,492,000 after purchasing an additional 76,317 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on OCFC shares. TheStreet raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com downgraded OceanFirst Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 4.0 %

NASDAQ OCFC opened at $15.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $903.67 million, a PE ratio of 8.88 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $15.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $12.01 and a 12 month high of $19.58.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 18th. The savings and loans company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $99.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $97.26 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 15.54%. On average, analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.78%.

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.