HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,498 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,269 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 239.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 19,858 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $622,000 after acquiring an additional 14,002 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $4,850,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,018 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,918 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $1,635,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 55,076 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DCOM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced 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 research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.50.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $27.99 on Wednesday. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $17.49 and a one year high of $37.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.44 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.04.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 4.50% and a return on equity of 5.43%. Equities analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 169.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 1,043 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $31.23 per share, for a total transaction of $32,572.89. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,572.89. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total transaction of $93,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 41,185 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,031.25. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 1,729 shares of company stock worth $48,021 in the last three months. 9.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.