Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.20.

Several research analysts have recently commented on DCOM shares. Raymond James lifted their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total transaction of $71,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,742.80. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.6% in the second 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 acquiring an additional 13,650 shares in the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 143,402 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 1.2% during 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 635,265 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,959,000 after buying an additional 77,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 47.4% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 503,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,505,000 after buying an additional 162,004 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of DCOM opened at $31.41 on Friday. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52 week low of $17.29 and a 52 week high of $37.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.16 and a 200-day moving average of $26.75.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. The business had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

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.