Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives $34.20 Average PT from Brokerages

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $34.20.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DCOM. StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.0 %

DCOM opened at $29.90 on Tuesday. Dime Community Bancshares has a twelve month low of $17.29 and a twelve month high of $37.60. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $33.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.35. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 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 company had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 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, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were 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 directly owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at $720,742.80. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the second quarter valued at $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $182,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $235,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.