Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $35.22 and last traded at $35.10, with a volume of 86071 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $33.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DCOM shares. Raymond James lifted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Piper Sandler downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $24.20.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued 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 business had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.56 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Rhumbline Advisers boosted 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 valued at $2,230,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,397 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.