EMC Capital Management Cuts Stock Holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

EMC Capital Management lowered its position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 43.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 9,861 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 7,472 shares during the quarter. EMC Capital Management’s holdings in Dime Community Bancshares were worth $303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royce & Associates LP lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 47.4% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 503,653 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $14,505,000 after buying an additional 162,004 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 91.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 75,732 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,181,000 after acquiring an additional 36,076 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 120.9% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 480,944 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $13,851,000 after acquiring an additional 263,225 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted 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 worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,090,834 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $31,416,000 after purchasing an additional 143,402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the 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 owns 20,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,742.80. This trade represents a 9.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DCOM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens raised Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.40.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $31.28 on Thursday. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.29 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. On average, analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.