The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 263,225 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 120.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 480,944 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 263,225 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 1.23% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $13,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,397 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,000 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ DCOM traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $36.04. 38,035 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 234,976. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.29 and a twelve month high of $37.60. The company has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.32.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on DCOM shares. StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $31.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Profile

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.