Savant Capital LLC Invests $209,000 in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Savant Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,797 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 77,853 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,393,000 after acquiring an additional 3,745 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 22,324 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $92,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Dime Community Bancshares

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the business’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 owns 37,147 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,986.40. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 reduced their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

DCOM opened at $31.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 53.31 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.02. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.29 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60.

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

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.