Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Dime Community Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.33.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $32.35 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.42. Dime Community Bancshares has a one year low of $23.25 and a one year high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.71 and a beta of 1.11.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $123.85 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.14 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 15.15%.During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stuart H. Lubow sold 19,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.07, for a total value of $685,618.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 202,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,106,865.36. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total value of $261,225.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,006,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,050,090.77. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 53,360 shares of company stock worth $1,844,734 over the last 90 days. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 742.9% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 326.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,808 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $169,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. Through its subsidiary, the company offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial customers. With a network of branches spanning the New York metropolitan area and South Florida, Dime Community Bancshares emphasizes relationship banking and local decision-making.

The company’s core lending activities include commercial and multifamily real estate loans, construction and land development financing, and one-to-four-family residential mortgage lending.