Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 166,119 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 6,923 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $4,784,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the second quarter worth $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $101,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $235,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on DCOM. StockNews.com cut Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. Stephens raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James raised their target price 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $71,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were purchased 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 $33,415,072. This represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DCOM opened at $30.33 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.64. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.29 and a 12 month high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. Analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

Dime Community Bancshares 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.