Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) have received an average rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.40.

A number of analysts have recently commented on DCOM shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. 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, Raymond James lifted their target price 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.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 263,225 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 1st quarter worth approximately $4,702,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1,546.1% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 217,719 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,441,000 after purchasing an additional 204,493 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 47.4% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 503,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $14,505,000 after buying an additional 162,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP grew its position in 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 period. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

DCOM stock opened at $36.32 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $17.29 and a 1 year high of $36.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $30.50 and a 200 day moving average of $24.68. The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21 and a beta of 0.99.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. The firm had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

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.