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

OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd.

OceanFirst Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% per year over the last three years. OceanFirst Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 38.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 %

Shares of NASDAQ:OCFC opened at $18.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.75 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. OceanFirst Financial has a 12-month low of $14.03 and a 12-month high of $21.87.

OceanFirst Financial (NASDAQ:OCFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. OceanFirst Financial had a return on equity of 6.08% and a net margin of 15.28%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that OceanFirst Financial will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.03, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.