Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.61 and last traded at $36.5450, with a volume of 27378 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DCOM shares. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.33.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.48 and a 200 day moving average of $29.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 1.11.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.09. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 9.12%. The company had revenue of $123.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.14 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 42.37%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 20,339 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.96, for a total transaction of $690,712.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,013,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,429,293.24. This represents a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 28,334 shares of company stock worth $966,688. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,406,229 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $101,608,000 after buying an additional 839,183 shares during the period. CSM Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $6,302,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 97.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 432,464 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,900,000 after purchasing an additional 212,934 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 271.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 266,005 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,935,000 after buying an additional 194,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% in the second 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 in the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. Through its subsidiary, the company offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial customers. With a network of branches spanning the New York metropolitan area and South Florida, Dime Community Bancshares emphasizes relationship banking and local decision-making.

The company’s core lending activities include commercial and multifamily real estate loans, construction and land development financing, and one-to-four-family residential mortgage lending.