Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Update

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, a decline of 8.9% from the January 15th total of 2,370,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 354,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dime Community Bancshares

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $71,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 1,043 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $31.23 per share, for a total transaction of $32,572.89. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 1,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,572.89. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 9.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 125.0% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 861.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Finally, USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $92,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DCOM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

DCOM traded down $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $30.59. The stock had a trading volume of 252,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 312,194. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.85 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.56 and a 200 day moving average of $30.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $17.29 and a 1 year high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.02). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 4.50%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. Dime Community Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 169.49%.

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.