Basswood Capital Management, L Sells 7,500 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Stock

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total value of $261,225.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,006,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,050,090.77. The trade was a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Basswood Capital Management, L also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 30th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 20,339 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.96, for a total value of $690,712.44.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $35.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.25 and a 52 week high of $36.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.18 and a 200-day moving average of $29.64.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $123.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.14 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 15.15%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 42.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 742.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 884 shares during the period. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $97,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $169,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 326.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,808 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on DCOM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised Dime Community Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.33.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. Through its subsidiary, the company offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial customers. With a network of branches spanning the New York metropolitan area and South Florida, Dime Community Bancshares emphasizes relationship banking and local decision-making.

The company’s core lending activities include commercial and multifamily real estate loans, construction and land development financing, and one-to-four-family residential mortgage lending.