Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Up 11.3% in December

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, a growth of 11.3% from the December 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 310,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.96. 225,838 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 315,361. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.31 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.68. Dime Community Bancshares has a twelve month low of $17.29 and a twelve month high of $37.60. 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 (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.65 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on DCOM shares. Raymond James increased their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $71,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,397 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

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.