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

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in 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 volume of 310,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on DCOM shares. Raymond James raised their price objective 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. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.20.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DCOM traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $31.96. The stock had a trading volume of 225,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,361. Dime Community Bancshares has a 12-month low of $17.29 and a 12-month high of $37.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.68. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total transaction of $71,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,742.80. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of DCOM. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 120.9% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 480,944 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $13,851,000 after acquiring an additional 263,225 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased 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 purchasing an additional 162,004 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% in the third quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,090,834 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,416,000 after purchasing an additional 143,402 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 33.9% in the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 488,554 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $9,967,000 after buying an additional 123,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 13.9% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 635,265 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,959,000 after buying an additional 77,284 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.