Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Analysts

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.20.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $106,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 52,499 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1.2% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 91.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 75,732 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,181,000 after purchasing an additional 36,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP boosted 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 valued at $31,416,000 after buying an additional 143,402 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.8 %

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $31.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76 and a beta of 1.05. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52 week low of $17.29 and a 52 week high of $37.60. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $33.32 and a 200 day moving average of $27.86.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares 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 will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 66.67%.

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.