Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 42,925 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 42.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,254 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 42,925 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned about 0.15% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $1,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position 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 valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 496.9% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the second quarter worth $101,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $235,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:DCOM traded down $0.02 on Friday, reaching $35.88. The stock had a trading volume of 124,855 shares, compared to its average volume of 235,844. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $31.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92 and a beta of 0.99. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders 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 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares's payout ratio is 66.67%.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

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