Insider Buying: Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Director Acquires 20,537 Shares of Stock

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 20,537 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.26 per share, for a total transaction of $539,301.62. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 1,034,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,156,989.08. The trade was a 2.03% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Basswood Capital Management, L also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 9th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.33, for a total transaction of $272,970.00.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 0.9%

DCOM stock traded down $0.23 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $26.39. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 231,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 259,858. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.09. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15 and a beta of 1.15. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.25 and a 52 week high of $37.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $103.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.75 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 8.72%.During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 87.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DCOM. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 27th. DA Davidson assumed coverage on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $36.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,754,416 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $76,793,000 after buying an additional 14,802 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,357,255 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $65,721,000 after buying an additional 340,046 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,592,656 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $44,403,000 after buying an additional 321,353 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,228,999 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $33,109,000 after buying an additional 27,463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,129,067 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $30,417,000 after buying an additional 131,087 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is currently 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.