Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives $36.40 Average PT from Brokerages

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.40.

DCOM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total transaction of $306,228.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 37,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,158,986.40. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total value of $93,750.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,815 shares of company stock valued at $471,498 over the last quarter. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 47.4% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 503,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,505,000 after buying an additional 162,004 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 91.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 75,732 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,181,000 after purchasing an additional 36,076 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 120.9% during the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 480,944 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,851,000 after purchasing an additional 263,225 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,090,834 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,416,000 after purchasing an additional 143,402 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $31.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.54 and a beta of 1.05. Dime Community Bancshares has a one year low of $17.29 and a one year high of $37.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 4.50%. Sell-side analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 169.49%.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that engages in the provision of various commercial banking and financial services. The company accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. It also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; letters of credit; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; lines of credit; home equity loans; and construction and land loans.