Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Update

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, an increase of 5.9% from the November 15th total of 2,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 263,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.2 days.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of DCOM stock opened at $34.80 on Tuesday. Dime Community Bancshares has a 52-week low of $17.29 and a 52-week high of $37.60. The business’s fifty day moving average is $32.88 and its 200 day moving average is $26.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 1.03.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. The company had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DCOM shares. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.20.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $400,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 46.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,788 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 5,951 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 496.9% in the second 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 last quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 22.2% during the second quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 298,345 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $6,086,000 after purchasing an additional 54,193 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Company 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.