Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.61 and last traded at $36.5450, with a volume of 27378 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $36.23.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DCOM has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson raised their price objective 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. Finally, Stephens boosted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.33.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 0.4%

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.76. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

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

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.37%.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 20,339 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.96, for a total value of $690,712.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,013,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,429,293.24. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 28,334 shares of company stock valued at $966,688 in the last quarter. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DCOM. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 32.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,406,229 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $101,608,000 after acquiring an additional 839,183 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,228,999 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $33,109,000 after purchasing an additional 27,463 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,129,067 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $30,417,000 after buying an additional 131,087 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 978,630 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $26,367,000 after buying an additional 4,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penn Capital Management Company LLC lifted its position 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 worth $17,487,000 after buying an additional 98,736 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.