Raymond James & Associates Trims Holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Raymond James & Associates lowered its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,227 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 2,361 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $787,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $118,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $132,000. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 13,799 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $275,000 after buying an additional 1,001 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $389,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com lowered Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $25.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Raymond James dropped their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 27,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.00 per share, for a total transaction of $622,564.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,015,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,350,083. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 15.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $19.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.57 and a twelve month high of $27.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $18.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $21.05. The company has a market cap of $755.44 million, a PE ratio of 8.48 and a beta of 1.02.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $167.63 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $81.01 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 14.89% and a return on equity of 9.85%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.67%.

Dime Community Bancshares Profile

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.