Phocas Financial Corp. Grows Holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Phocas Financial Corp. boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 70.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 246,054 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after purchasing an additional 101,764 shares during the quarter. Phocas Financial Corp. owned about 0.63% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $4,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,214,786 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $95,318,000 after purchasing an additional 10,189 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,626,037 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $59,663,000 after buying an additional 58,228 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,289,101 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $67,026,000 after buying an additional 21,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,476,814 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $51,053,000 after buying an additional 81,796 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 744,721 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $16,920,000 after buying an additional 4,041 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.25% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 231,286 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.63 per share, with a total value of $5,002,716.18. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,054,584 shares in the company, valued at $22,810,651.92. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 231,286 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $21.63 per share, with a total value of $5,002,716.18. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,054,584 shares in the company, valued at $22,810,651.92. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Christopher J. Porzelt sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.68, for a total transaction of $97,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,333 shares in the company, valued at $245,699.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 15.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on DCOM shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $23.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $29.25.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of DCOM traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $19.78. The company had a trading volume of 36,824 shares, compared to its average volume of 189,079. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market capitalization of $768.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.61 and a beta of 1.10. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $15.57 and a 12-month high of $36.51.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The savings and loans company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $162.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.52 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 25.09% and a return on equity of 13.72%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Research analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 14th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.06%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.17%.

About Dime Community Bancshares

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc operates as the holding company for Dime Community Bank that provides various commercial banking and financial services. It accepts time, savings, and demand deposits from the businesses, consumers, and local municipalities. The company also offers commercial real estate loans; multi-family mortgage loans; residential mortgage loans; secured and unsecured commercial and consumer loans; home equity loans; and construction and land loans.