HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 12.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 11,498 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after buying an additional 1,269 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $92,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $209,000. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total value of $93,750.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 41,185 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,287,031.25. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,158,986.40. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 1,729 shares of company stock worth $48,021 over the last quarter. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DCOM shares. Piper Sandler raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.50.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 0.4 %

DCOM opened at $27.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.44 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $30.01 and its 200 day moving average is $31.04. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.49 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60.

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

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. 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.