Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Plans $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 27th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the savings and loans company on Thursday, April 24th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 17th.

Dime Community Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 1.4% per year over the last three years. Dime Community Bancshares has a payout ratio of 25.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Dime Community Bancshares to earn $3.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.1%.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ DCOM opened at $24.49 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $28.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.79. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52-week low of $17.49 and a 52-week high of $37.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 41.51 and a beta of 0.96.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 research analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total value of $93,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 37,147 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,158,986.40. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 1,729 shares of company stock valued at $48,021 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DCOM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

About Dime Community Bancshares

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.