Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Cut to Strong Sell at Zacks Research

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

DCOM has been the topic of a number of other reports. DA Davidson raised Dime Community Bancshares to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.17.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.5%

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $27.84 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.42 and a beta of 1.10. Dime Community Bancshares has a twelve month low of $23.25 and a twelve month high of $37.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $27.97. 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 posted its 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 business had revenue of $103.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. 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 Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.92, for a total value of $30,920.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 38,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,180,680.20. This represents a 2.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.33, for a total value of $272,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,034,158 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,366,012.14. This represents a 0.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DCOM. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $97,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,931 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 326.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,808 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 4,446 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 250.1% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,035 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 4,311 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.