Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the savings and loans company’s stock.

DCOM has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $34.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 30th. Stephens cut their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 9th.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 5.3 %

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $23.89 on Thursday. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $21.63 and a 1 year high of $36.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.78. The stock has a market cap of $920.48 million, a PE ratio of 6.40 and a beta of 1.08.

Dime Community Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 14th. This is a boost from Dime Community Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 25.74%.

Insider Activity

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 38,013 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.86, for a total transaction of $1,135,068.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,022 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,816.92. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 113,855 shares of company stock worth $3,485,669. Corporate insiders own 15.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DCOM. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.3% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,214,786 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $95,318,000 after acquiring an additional 10,189 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,567,809 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $81,736,000 after buying an additional 38,079 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,289,101 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $67,026,000 after buying an additional 21,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,476,814 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $51,053,000 after buying an additional 81,796 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 229.7% in the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 785,550 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $23,292,000 after buying an additional 547,293 shares during the period. 72.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

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The largest community bank headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, chartered on April 19, 1864. The bank specializes in Commercial Mortgage finance in the NY Metro area and services depositors in 24 full service branches throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and the Bronx.