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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a payout ratio of 38.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect OceanFirst Financial to earn $1.60 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 50.0%.

OceanFirst Financial Stock Down 1.8 %

OCFC stock opened at $18.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $19.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.29. OceanFirst Financial has a 12 month low of $14.03 and a 12 month high of $21.87. The company has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. As a group, analysts forecast that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $22.00 target price on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a report on Friday. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $17.00 price objective on OceanFirst Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OceanFirst Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.75.

Insider Transactions at OceanFirst Financial

In other OceanFirst Financial news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total value of $30,045.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 177,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,553,662.51. The trade was a 0.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

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.