Financial Survey: Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) vs. Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT)

Fulton Financial (NASDAQ:FULT) and Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk and profitability.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

72.0% of Fulton Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.3% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Fulton Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 9.1% of Dime Community Bancshares shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Fulton Financial and Dime Community Bancshares’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fulton Financial	17.93%	11.09%	1.03%
Dime Community Bancshares	9.98%	6.58%	0.54%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Fulton Financial and Dime Community Bancshares’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fulton Financial	$1.07 billion	3.07	$284.28 million	$1.61	11.25
Dime Community Bancshares	$336.71 million	2.69	$96.09 million	$1.78	13.06

Fulton Financial has higher revenue and earnings than Dime Community Bancshares. Fulton Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dime Community Bancshares, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Fulton Financial and Dime Community Bancshares, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fulton Financial	0	4	1	0	2.20
Dime Community Bancshares	0	1	3	0	2.75

Fulton Financial currently has a consensus target price of $18.40, suggesting a potential upside of 1.55%. Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus target price of $27.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.20%. Given Dime Community Bancshares’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dime Community Bancshares is more favorable than Fulton Financial.

Volatility & Risk

Fulton Financial has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dime Community Bancshares has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its stock price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Fulton Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Dime Community Bancshares pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Fulton Financial pays out 42.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dime Community Bancshares pays out 56.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Summary

Dime Community Bancshares beats Fulton Financial on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fulton Financial

Fulton Financial Corporation operates as a financial holding company that provides consumer and commercial banking products and services in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia. It accepts various checking accounts and savings deposit products, certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. The company offers consumer loans products, including home equity loans and lines of credit, automobile loans, personal lines of credit, and checking account overdraft protection; construction and jumbo residential mortgage loans; and commercial lending products comprising commercial real estate, commercial and industrial, and construction loans, as well as equipment lease financing loans. In addition, it offers letters of credit, cash management services, and traditional deposit products; and wealth management services, including investment management, trust, brokerage, insurance, and investment advisory services. Further, the company owns trust preferred securities; and sells various life insurance products. It provides its products and services through financial center offices, as well as through a network of automated teller machines, telephone banking, mobile banking, and online banking. Fulton Financial Corporation was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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. In addition, the company invests in Federal Home Loan Bank, Federal National Mortgage Association, Government National Mortgage Association, and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, and other asset backed securities; U.S. Treasury securities; New York state and local municipal obligations; U.S. government-sponsored enterprise securities; and corporate bonds. Further, it offers certificate of deposit account registry services and insured cash sweep programs; federal deposit insurance corporation insurance; merchant credit and debit card processing, automated teller machines, cash management services, lockbox processing, online banking services, remote deposit capture, safe deposit boxes, and individual retirement accounts; investment products and services through a third-party broker dealer; and title insurance broker services for small and medium sized businesses, and municipal and consumer relationships. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York.