Analysts Set Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Price Target at $34.20

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.20.

Several brokerages have weighed in on DCOM. StockNews.com cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. Raymond James raised their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

In other 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 sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,742.80. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. This represents a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,230,000 after buying an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $29.90 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 1.05. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1-year low of $17.29 and a 1-year high of $37.60. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $33.35 and a 200-day moving average of $28.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) 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 the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.