Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $44.23 and last traded at $43.13, with a volume of 15,348 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $42.22.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson set a $50.00 price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $47.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.50.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 2.7%

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 20th. The savings and loans company reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.05. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 15.15%. The business had revenue of $135.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 16th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 32.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 90,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.68, for a total transaction of $3,841,200.00. Following the sale, the director owned 5,411 shares in the company, valued at $230,941.48. This represents a 94.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Perry sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.88, for a total transaction of $50,640.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 193,709 shares of company stock valued at $8,100,891. Insiders own 7.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. Kestra Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 3.2% in the third quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,075 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the third quarter worth about $201,000. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $657,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $73,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $302,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, a full-service commercial bank serving businesses, individuals and local communities in the New York metropolitan area. The company’s primary markets include Long Island and New York City, with banking offices across Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Nassau County and Suffolk County.

Dime Community Bank provides commercial and residential real estate lending, commercial and industrial loans, construction financing, residential mortgages and consumer loans.