Banc Funds Co. LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Banc Funds Co. LLC cut its stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 44.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 76,073 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 60,188 shares during the period. Banc Funds Co. LLC owned approximately 0.19% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $2,191,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,479,855 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $47,762,000 after purchasing an additional 19,999 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter worth $400,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,788 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 496.9% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 22.2% during the 2nd quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 298,345 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $6,086,000 after purchasing an additional 54,193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James boosted 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 report on Wednesday, October 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Finally, Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ:DCOM traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $36.45. The company's stock had a trading volume of 99,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,184. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.29 and a 52-week high of $37.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.14 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.26 and a 200-day moving average of $25.32.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 company posted $0.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. 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 purchased 29,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.