Brokerages Set Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Target Price at $35.13

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.1250.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $31.27 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.43 and a beta of 1.12. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $23.25 and a 1 year high of $35.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $28.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.45.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $116.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.75 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 7.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 17th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 2,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.29, for a total transaction of $57,838.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 33,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $893,465.65. The trade was a 6.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 20,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $26.26 per share, with a total value of $539,301.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,034,158 shares in the company, valued at $27,156,989.08. The trade was a 2.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 4,695 shares of company stock valued at $125,809 in the last three months. 7.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Penn Capital Management Company LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC now owns 584,810 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $17,487,000 after purchasing an additional 98,736 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 61.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,821 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 5,652 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 742.9% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 21.5% in the third quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 11,889 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 2,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 271.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 266,005 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,935,000 after buying an additional 194,383 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.