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

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.3333.

DCOM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. DA Davidson upped their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target 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. Stephens lifted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total value of $261,225.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,006,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,050,090.77. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Stuart H. Lubow sold 19,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.07, for a total transaction of $685,618.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 202,648 shares in the company, valued at $7,106,865.36. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 53,360 shares of company stock valued at $1,844,734. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,263,230 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $128,281,000 after purchasing an additional 857,001 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,824,019 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $54,885,000 after buying an additional 8,936 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 2.3% during the second quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,228,999 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $33,109,000 after purchasing an additional 27,463 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,129,067 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $30,417,000 after buying an additional 131,087 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 978,630 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $26,367,000 after acquiring an additional 4,827 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.8%

DCOM stock opened at $34.27 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.27. Dime Community Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $23.25 and a fifty-two week high of $36.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.52 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $118.14 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 9.12%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.37%.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

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.