Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $38.00.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on DCOM shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $33.20 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07 and a beta of 1.09. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52-week low of $23.25 and a 52-week high of $36.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.76.

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. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The company had revenue of $123.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 42.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stuart H. Lubow sold 19,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.07, for a total value of $685,618.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 202,648 shares in the company, valued at $7,106,865.36. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 20,339 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.96, for a total transaction of $690,712.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,013,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,429,293.24. The trade was a 1.97% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 52,865 shares of company stock worth $1,829,983 over the last ninety days. 7.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 742.9% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at about $169,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 326.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,808 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 4,446 shares in the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

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.