Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the four brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.50.

Several brokerages recently commented on DCOM. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $39.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $34.00 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $29.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67 and a beta of 0.99. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1-year low of $17.29 and a 1-year high of $35.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.56 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DCOM. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 27.0% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 83,071 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,600,000 after buying an additional 17,645 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 124.9% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 22,456 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 12,470 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,479,855 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $47,762,000 after acquiring an additional 19,999 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares during the first quarter worth about $4,702,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 87.0% during the first quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 22,115 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 10,287 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.