Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.40.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 1,043 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $31.23 per share, with a total value of $32,572.89. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,043 shares in the company, valued at $32,572.89. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total transaction of $71,520.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 70.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 27,437 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 11,317 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 23.3% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 48,350 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $986,000 after acquiring an additional 9,144 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1,546.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 217,719 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,441,000 after purchasing an additional 204,493 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning acquired a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $243,000. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $32.74 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.53. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a PE ratio of 55.49 and a beta of 1.05. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $17.29 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares will post 2.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. 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.