Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Stephens

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $33.00 target price on the savings and loans company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $30.00.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research lowered Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.25.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $31.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.00 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 moving average is $28.28 and its 200 day moving average is $28.58.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.06). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 8.72%.The firm had revenue of $116.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.75 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 2,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director owned 33,985 shares in the company, valued at $893,465.65. This trade represents a 6.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 20,537 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.26 per share, for a total transaction of $539,301.62. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 1,034,158 shares in the company, valued at $27,156,989.08. This trade represents a 2.03% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,695 shares of company stock valued at $125,809. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DCOM. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 32.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,406,229 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $101,608,000 after buying an additional 839,183 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 16.9% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,357,255 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $65,721,000 after buying an additional 340,046 shares in the last quarter. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter worth $6,302,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 97.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 432,464 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,900,000 after buying an additional 212,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 271.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 266,005 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,935,000 after acquiring an additional 194,383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

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.