Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Short Interest Update

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,600,000 shares, a decline of 8.5% from the October 15th total of 2,840,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 199,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 13.0 days.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of DCOM traded up $1.59 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $35.29. 433,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 232,254. Dime Community Bancshares has a 1 year low of $17.29 and a 1 year high of $36.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67 and a beta of 0.99. 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 price of $29.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.20.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.65 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.56 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 17th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 17th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on DCOM shares. Piper Sandler downgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $25.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Stephens raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 21st. One equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.40.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L purchased 29,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were bought at an average price of $32.00 per share, with a total value of $928,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares in the company, valued at $33,415,072. This trade represents a 2.86 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,397 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $155,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $182,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.