Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Director Sells $261,225.00 in Stock

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total value of $261,225.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,006,319 shares in the company, valued at $35,050,090.77. This trade represents a 0.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Basswood Capital Management, L also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, January 30th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 20,339 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.96, for a total value of $690,712.44.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of DCOM stock opened at $35.73 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.32 and a 200 day moving average of $29.69. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.25 and a 1-year high of $36.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 15.14 and a beta of 1.11.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $123.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.14 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 15.15%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DCOM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Stephens boosted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ELCO Management Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $230,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 81,730 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,459,000 after purchasing an additional 6,754 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 213,325 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $6,419,000 after buying an additional 31,968 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $248,000. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $1,065,000. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. Through its subsidiary, the company offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial customers. With a network of branches spanning the New York metropolitan area and South Florida, Dime Community Bancshares emphasizes relationship banking and local decision-making.

The company’s core lending activities include commercial and multifamily real estate loans, construction and land development financing, and one-to-four-family residential mortgage lending.