Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Buy" by the five analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.40.

DCOM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James lifted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 4.7 %

NASDAQ:DCOM traded up $1.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $35.29. 433,862 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 232,254. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.47 and a 200 day moving average of $24.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. Dime Community Bancshares has a twelve month low of $17.29 and a twelve month high of $36.05. The company has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.67 and a beta of 0.99.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) 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). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. The company had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at about $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 496.9% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $98,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $101,000. Finally, EMC Capital Management increased its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 42.2% during the first quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 9,861 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,924 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company's stock.

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.