Wellington Management Group LLP Grows Holdings in OceanFirst Financial Corp. $OCFC

Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 58.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,114,069 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,518,636 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in OceanFirst Financial were worth $80,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in OCFC. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 16.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 493,623 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $8,905,000 after purchasing an additional 68,347 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $194,135,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,676,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in OceanFirst Financial by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,409,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $61,499,000 after buying an additional 179,364 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,593,000. 70.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $21.00 price target (up from $19.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $21.50.

Insider Activity

In other OceanFirst Financial news, EVP Brian Schaeffer sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.91, for a total transaction of $104,005.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 83,068 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,570,815.88. This represents a 6.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John R. Buran sold 113,463 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.40, for a total transaction of $2,201,182.20. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 5.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

Shares of OceanFirst Financial stock opened at $19.09 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.79. The firm has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46 and a beta of 0.98. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 12 month low of $17.05 and a 12 month high of $20.61.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The savings and loans company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.43. OceanFirst Financial had a net margin of 6.38% and a return on equity of 5.34%. The business had revenue of $131.33 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $135.62 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.12%.

OceanFirst Financial Profile

OceanFirst Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: OCFC) is a bank holding company headquartered in Toms River, New Jersey, that provides a full range of community banking and financial services through its principal subsidiary, OceanFirst Bank. Established in the early 20th century, the company has built its business around serving the deposit, lending and wealth management needs of individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations across New Jersey and portions of New York.

The company’s core activities include accepting consumer and business deposits, making commercial, municipal and consumer loans, and offering residential mortgage financing.