Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,600,000 shares, a decrease of 8.5% from the October 15th total of 2,840,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 199,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 13.0 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Piper Sandler downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James raised their price target 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. Finally, Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ DCOM traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $35.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 40,206 shares, compared to its average volume of 231,396. Dime Community Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $17.29 and a fifty-two week high of $36.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The company has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53 and a beta of 0.99. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.31.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 9.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% during 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 during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,397 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $155,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% in 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 during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.