Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Up 5.9% in November

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,160,000 shares, a growth of 5.9% from the November 15th total of 2,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 263,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 8.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CTO Michael Fegan sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 20,155 shares in the company, valued at $720,742.80. This represents a 9.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 120.9% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 263,225 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 47.4% in the third 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. Systematic Financial Management LP boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 143,402 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 33.9% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 488,554 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $9,967,000 after buying an additional 123,800 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.9% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on DCOM shares. Stephens upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James boosted 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 downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.20.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of DCOM opened at $34.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $32.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Dime Community Bancshares has a 12 month low of $17.29 and a 12 month high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $171.87 million during 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 company earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 17th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

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.