Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Up 11.3% in December

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, an increase of 11.3% from the December 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 310,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 shares were sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $71,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,742.80. The trade was a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth about $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,000. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $155,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.20.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ DCOM traded down $0.09 on Monday, hitting $31.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 225,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 315,361. 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 has a 52-week low of $17.29 and a 52-week high of $37.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.31 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $33.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.68.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Research analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.