Russell Investments Group Ltd. Has $1.57 Million Stock Position in OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:OCFC – Get Rating) by 41.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,674 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 52,883 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.12% of OceanFirst Financial worth $1,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dakota Wealth Management increased its position in shares of OceanFirst Financial by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 10,776 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in OceanFirst Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $10,416,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 16,685 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,531 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $373,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in OceanFirst Financial by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,881 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on OCFC shares. TheStreet cut shares of OceanFirst Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $23.00 price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Friday, April 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 6th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of OceanFirst Financial in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of OceanFirst Financial from $26.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Insider Activity at OceanFirst Financial

In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy acquired 3,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.93 per share, for a total transaction of $79,890.99. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,643 shares in the company, valued at $79,890.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy acquired 3,643 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $21.93 per share, for a total transaction of $79,890.99. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 3,643 shares in the company, valued at $79,890.99. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph M. Jr. Murphy acquired 6,473 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $15.45 per share, with a total value of $100,007.85. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 175,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,712,448.35. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 17,116 shares of company stock worth $309,699. 4.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

OceanFirst Financial Trading Up 2.0 %

OCFC opened at $14.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $889.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.55. OceanFirst Financial Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $12.81 and a fifty-two week high of $24.93.

OceanFirst Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 5th. OceanFirst Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.52%.

OceanFirst Financial Profile

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OceanFirst Financial Corp. operates as a savings and loan holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. Its subsidiary OceanFirst Bank, offers commercial and residential financing solutions, wealth management, and deposit services. It has retail branches throughout the state and in metropolitan New York City along with loan production offices in New Jersey, New York City and Pennsylvania.