Analysts Set Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) PT at $38.00

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $38.00.

DCOM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of DCOM opened at $32.08 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.69. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52-week low of $23.25 and a 52-week high of $36.86.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 15.15%.The company had revenue of $123.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $118.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.42 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total transaction of $261,225.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,006,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,050,090.77. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stuart H. Lubow sold 19,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were 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 owned 202,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,106,865.36. This represents a 8.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 52,865 shares of company stock valued at $1,829,983 over the last three months. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,800 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 3.6% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,630 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 1.5% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 29,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $878,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 7.8% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 10,125 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 730 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 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.