Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Up 11.3% in December

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,460,000 shares, a growth of 11.3% from the December 15th total of 2,210,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 310,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.9 days.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. This represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total transaction of $71,520.00. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 35,468 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 4,888 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 635,265 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $12,959,000 after acquiring an additional 77,284 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.6% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,173,003 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $44,328,000 after acquiring an additional 13,650 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $31.96. 225,838 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 315,361. The stock has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31 and a beta of 1.05. 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 has a 52 week low of $17.29 and a 52 week high of $37.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.28 and its 200-day moving average is $28.62.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 9.65% and a return on equity of 5.58%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DCOM shares. Raymond James increased 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. StockNews.com lowered Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.20.

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.