Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Sees Large Volume Increase – Should You Buy?

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) saw unusually-high trading volume on Tuesday . Approximately 352,739 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 58% from the previous session’s volume of 223,526 shares.The stock last traded at $33.70 and had previously closed at $34.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. Raymond James increased their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut Dime Community Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $23.00 to $26.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.50.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.77.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 21,052 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% in 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

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.