Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Raises Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) by 28.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,539 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,199 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.11% of OceanFirst Financial worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of OCFC. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of OceanFirst Financial in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of OceanFirst Financial during the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in OceanFirst Financial during the second quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $150,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.98% of the company’s stock.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $21.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.00. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a 1 year low of $13.41 and a 1 year high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $96.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.79 million. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. On average, analysts expect that OceanFirst Financial Corp. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

OceanFirst Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Monday, November 4th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. OceanFirst Financial’s payout ratio is currently 45.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on OCFC. Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $19.50 to $21.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on OceanFirst Financial from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.75.

Insider Activity at OceanFirst Financial

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 177,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.