Systematic Financial Management LP Increases Position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Systematic Financial Management LP grew its stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 15.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,090,834 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 143,402 shares during the quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $31,416,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $56,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 496.9% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,805 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $98,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $101,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth $235,000. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. 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 assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This represents a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $36.59 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.29 and a twelve month high of $37.60. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.62. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 24.39 and a beta of 1.03.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $171.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.65 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.67%.

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.