Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $47.00 to $49.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Dime Community Bancshares traded as high as $42.01 and last traded at $42.0110, with a volume of 95,965 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.72.

Separately, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $47.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.50.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.40, for a total value of $296,838.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,099 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $252,498.60. This represents a 54.04% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.73, for a total value of $75,114.00. Following the sale, the director owned 32,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,352,052. This represents a 5.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 134,595 shares of company stock valued at $5,506,229 in the last three months. 7.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $35,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 54.5% in the 1st quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,452 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $73,000. Odyssean LLC purchased a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $211,000. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 3.3%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81 and a beta of 1.01.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The savings and loans company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.05. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The firm had revenue of $135.35 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $131.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 16th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 36.10%.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, a full-service commercial bank serving businesses, individuals and local communities in the New York metropolitan area. The company’s primary markets include Long Island and New York City, with banking offices across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Nassau County and Suffolk County.

Dime Community Bank provides commercial and residential real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, construction financing, residential mortgages and consumer loans.