California State Teachers Retirement System Increases Stock Position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,318 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,129 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.09% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $1,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 125.0% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 861.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,017 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total value of $51,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $905,327.36. This trade represents a 5.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $27.19 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.09 and a beta of 1.07. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.49 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $25.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.40.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $103.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $105.83 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 4.50% and a return on equity of 5.43%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th were paid a $0.3438 dividend. This represents a $1.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.06%. This is an increase from Dime Community Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 158.73%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DCOM shares. Stephens reduced their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $36.00 to $32.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Company 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.