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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, May 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.30%. The ex-dividend date 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 41.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $1.97 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 40.6%.

OceanFirst Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ OCFC opened at $15.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $898.90 million, a PE ratio of 8.83 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $15.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.44. OceanFirst Financial has a fifty-two week low of $12.01 and a fifty-two week high of $19.58.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on OCFC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $19.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised OceanFirst Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James lowered their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $22.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, TheStreet raised OceanFirst Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $18.20.

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.