Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. $DCOM Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 1.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,936,454 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 30,426 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.07% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $87,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 15.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,143 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 3,135 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 132.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 169,503 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $4,726,000 after acquiring an additional 96,523 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 3,443 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 324,976 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $9,060,000 after acquiring an additional 18,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.4% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 82,084 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 4,231 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, CEO Stuart H. Lubow sold 19,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.07, for a total transaction of $685,618.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 202,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,106,865.36. This trade represents a 8.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.83, for a total transaction of $261,225.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,006,319 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,050,090.77. This represents a 0.74% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 52,865 shares of company stock worth $1,829,983 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of DCOM opened at $32.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 1.09. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.52. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.25 and a twelve month high of $36.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The savings and loans company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.09. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.12% and a net margin of 15.15%.The firm had revenue of $123.85 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $118.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 16th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 16th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.33.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Dime Community Bank, headquartered in Hauppauge, New York. Through its subsidiary, the company offers a comprehensive suite of banking and financial services to both individual and commercial customers. With a network of branches spanning the New York metropolitan area and South Florida, Dime Community Bancshares emphasizes relationship banking and local decision-making.

The company’s core lending activities include commercial and multifamily real estate loans, construction and land development financing, and one-to-four-family residential mortgage lending.