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

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, a decrease of 8.9% from the January 15th total of 2,370,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 354,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.1 days.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 1,043 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $31.23 per share, with a total value of $32,572.89. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,572.89. The trade was a ? increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,739,614 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $84,202,000 after buying an additional 256,466 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,299,379 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $70,671,000 after buying an additional 71,273 shares during the period. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 2,064,565 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $63,454,000 after buying an additional 30,202 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,017,209 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $61,999,000 after buying an additional 233,417 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,073,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DCOM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler raised Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of DCOM stock opened at $31.70 on Wednesday. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $17.29 and a 1 year high of $37.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.95. The company has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 53.73 and a beta of 1.05.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.02). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 4.50% and a return on equity of 5.43%. Research analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is 169.49%.

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.