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

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

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total value of $306,228.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 37,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,986.40. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total value of $71,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DCOM. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 125.0% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 861.9% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $92,000. 75.27% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on DCOM shares. 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 report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

Dime Community Bancshares stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $31.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 168,919 shares, compared to its average volume of 305,058. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.12 and a beta of 1.05. Dime Community Bancshares has a twelve month low of $17.29 and a twelve month high of $37.60.

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

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.