Foundry Partners LLC Acquires 39,190 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Foundry Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 242,027 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after acquiring an additional 39,190 shares during the quarter. Foundry Partners LLC owned approximately 0.62% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $6,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 1,546.1% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 217,719 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $4,441,000 after purchasing an additional 204,493 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP boosted 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 in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 33.9% in 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 last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 635,265 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $12,959,000 after acquiring an additional 77,284 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 22.2% during the second quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 298,345 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $6,086,000 after acquiring an additional 54,193 shares during the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DCOM. Raymond James upped their price target 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 lowered Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Stephens upgraded 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 9.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of DCOM opened at $34.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.13 and a beta of 0.99. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $17.29 and a one year high of $36.05.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.12). Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. The firm had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.65 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Dime Community Bancshares 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.