Analysts Set Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Price Target at $34.20

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $34.20.

DCOM has been the topic of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $71,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% during the 3rd 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 period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 496.9% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $98,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $101,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Down 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $33.96 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $33.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.68. The firm has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64 and a beta of 1.03. 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 12-month low of $17.29 and a 12-month high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released 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 analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio 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.