Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Acquires 855 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,386 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 855 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $258,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DCOM. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% during the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,090,834 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,416,000 after acquiring an additional 143,402 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $24,773,000 after purchasing an additional 9,978 shares in the last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 86.3% in the 4th quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 620,155 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $19,060,000 after purchasing an additional 287,195 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 120.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 480,944 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,851,000 after purchasing an additional 263,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 421,392 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,951,000 after buying an additional 46,903 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dime Community Bancshares

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total value of $93,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 41,185 shares in the company, valued at $1,287,031.25. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total value of $306,228.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 37,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,158,986.40. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 1,729 shares of company stock worth $48,021 over the last quarter. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DCOM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $28.23 on Friday. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.49 and a 52-week high of $37.60. The company has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.85 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.90.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 4.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.54%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 169.49%.

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.