Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Upgraded at Stephens

Stephens upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $39.00 price objective on the savings and loans company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $30.00.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on DCOM. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. Piper Sandler downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $23.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

DCOM stock opened at $35.00 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.29 and a 200-day moving average of $24.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 23.33 and a beta of 0.99. Dime Community Bancshares has a 12-month low of $17.29 and a 12-month high of $36.05.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 9.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,479,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $47,762,000 after purchasing an additional 19,999 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,173,003 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $44,328,000 after buying an additional 13,650 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,090,834 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $31,416,000 after buying an additional 143,402 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 860,009 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $24,773,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 693,457 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,334,000 after buying an additional 31,853 shares in 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.