Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Analysts

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.50.

DCOM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $47.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. DA Davidson set a $50.00 price target on Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, October 22nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 1,800 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.73, for a total value of $75,114.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 32,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,352,052. This trade represents a 5.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.68, for a total value of $3,841,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,411 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $230,941.48. This trade represents a 94.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 240,754 shares of company stock worth $10,043,074. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the second quarter worth $251,937,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,353,786 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $79,602,000 after purchasing an additional 23,035 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter worth $79,106,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $18,911,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,342,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $42.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Dime Community Bancshares has a 12 month low of $25.63 and a 12 month high of $43.38. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.31.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The savings and loans company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $135.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.16 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 9.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 16th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.47%.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, a full-service commercial bank serving businesses, individuals and local communities in the New York metropolitan area. The company’s primary markets include Long Island and New York City, with banking offices across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Nassau County and Suffolk County.

Dime Community Bank provides commercial and residential real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, construction financing, residential mortgages and consumer loans.