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

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, a drop 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.76, for a total transaction of $71,520.00. Following the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 1,043 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $31.23 per share, for a total transaction of $32,572.89. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,572.89. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 125.0% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the period. Finally, USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.1 %

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $31.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.73 and a beta of 1.05. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1-year low of $17.29 and a 1-year high of $37.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $31.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.95.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The savings and loans company reported $0.42 EPS 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 169.49%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on DCOM. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Piper Sandler raised 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.40.

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.