Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $37.19 and last traded at $37.00, with a volume of 14464 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.32.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in 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. Stephens upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.9 %

The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21 and a beta of 0.99. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.75.

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

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 27.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 83,071 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after purchasing an additional 17,645 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 124.9% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 22,456 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 12,470 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,479,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $47,762,000 after buying an additional 19,999 shares in the last quarter. Caxton Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 87.0% during the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 22,115 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 10,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EMC Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,861 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 2,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

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.