Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Plans $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the savings and loans company on Friday, April 24th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 17th.

Dime Community Bancshares has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Dime Community Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 26.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Dime Community Bancshares to earn $3.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.1%.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $33.32 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.74. The company has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 1.09. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $23.25 and a 1 year high of $36.86.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $123.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $118.14 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 15.15% and a return on equity of 9.12%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total value of $261,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,006,319 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stuart H. Lubow sold 19,550 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.07, for a total transaction of $685,618.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 202,648 shares in the company, valued at $7,106,865.36. This represents a 8.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 52,865 shares of company stock worth $1,829,983 in the last three months. 7.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 15.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,143 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $645,000 after purchasing an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 132.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 169,503 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,726,000 after buying an additional 96,523 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 3,443 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 324,976 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $9,060,000 after buying an additional 18,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.4% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 82,084 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after acquiring an additional 4,231 shares during the period. 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.