Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Shares Up 3.9%

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) shot up 3.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $18.69 and last traded at $18.53. 91,526 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 255,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on DCOM. StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $25.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James decreased their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $720.45 million, a P/E ratio of 7.79 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.04.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $167.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.01 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 14.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 43.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 27,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.00 per share, with a total value of $622,564.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,015,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,350,083. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 10.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DCOM. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 451.9% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,286 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 51.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,848 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 625 shares during the period. Point72 Middle East FZE bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1,225.8% during the first quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 1,750 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,618 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 298.0% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,155 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 3,111 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

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.