The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Purchases 263,225 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 120.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 480,944 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 263,225 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $13,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the second quarter worth $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $98,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $235,000. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $35.88 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.32. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $17.29 and a 12-month high of $37.60. 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 (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.12). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James increased their target price 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 lowered shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.40.

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.