Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,876 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.13% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $1,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DCOM. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 4.7% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,529,621 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $97,487,000 after purchasing an additional 245,984 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 10,189 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew 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 purchasing an additional 58,228 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,289,101 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $67,026,000 after buying an additional 21,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 15.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,506,989 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $26,568,000 after buying an additional 199,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $17.73 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $689.34 million, a P/E ratio of 7.74 and a beta of 1.02. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $15.57 and a one year high of $27.91. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.09). Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 14.89% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The company had revenue of $167.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.64%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 27,068 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.00 per share, for a total transaction of $622,564.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,015,221 shares in the company, valued at $23,350,083. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 15.30% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DCOM shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $25.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Raymond James dropped their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.88.

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.