Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning.

DCOM has been the subject of several other reports. DA Davidson reiterated a buy rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $25.50 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

DCOM opened at $19.84 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $773.16 million, a P/E ratio of 11.15 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $18.79 and its 200-day moving average is $21.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52-week low of $15.57 and a 52-week high of $27.91.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $82.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.15 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 7.76%. Analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 56.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $47,762,000 after buying an additional 19,999 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,146,521 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $57,807,000 after purchasing an additional 43,679 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 369,130 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $7,368,000 after purchasing an additional 46,033 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 21.3% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 364,754 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,025,000 after buying an additional 64,100 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 290,838 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $7,832,000 after acquiring an additional 17,446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Company 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.