Banc Funds Co. LLC Purchases 21,875 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Banc Funds Co. LLC boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 28.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 97,948 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 21,875 shares during the quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $3,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 91.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 75,732 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,181,000 after purchasing an additional 36,076 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 81,602 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,508,000 after buying an additional 12,700 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,850,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,635,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 100.7% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 33,322 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 16,719 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on DCOM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler raised Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total value of $306,228.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 37,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,986.40. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total transaction of $93,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 41,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 1,729 shares of company stock valued at $48,021 over the last three months. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $25.37 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 43.00 and a beta of 0.96. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.49 and a 1-year high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 4.50% and a return on equity of 5.43%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 169.49%.

Dime Community Bancshares 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.