State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Buys 11,141 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. $DCOM

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 17.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 74,651 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,141 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $2,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 14.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,931 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 14.5% in the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 22,391 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 2.8% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 195,530 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $5,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,266 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.5% in the first quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 303,469 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $8,461,000 after purchasing an additional 26,301 shares during the period. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DCOM. Zacks Research cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $34.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.13.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $26.34 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $23.25 and a one year high of $37.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.11 and a beta of 1.10.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.06). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $103.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 24th. Investors of record on Friday, October 17th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 87.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.92, for a total transaction of $30,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 38,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,180,680.20. The trade was a 2.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.33, for a total transaction of $272,970.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,034,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,366,012.14. The trade was a 0.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares 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.