Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 17,500 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock, valued at approximately $471,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DCOM. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 81.5% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 30,237 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 13,574 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 2.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 31,588 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $630,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 11.1% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 769,199 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $15,353,000 after buying an additional 77,113 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 2.7% during the third quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 61,310 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $1,224,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 188,683 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $3,766,000 after buying an additional 2,906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ DCOM opened at $18.75 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $728.96 million, a PE ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 1.02. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $15.57 and a 12 month high of $27.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.60 and a 200-day moving average of $21.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $167.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.01 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 11.46% and a return on equity of 7.76%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 24th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 16th. Dime Community Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 56.18%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DCOM shares. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Raymond James decreased their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $25.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 27,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.00 per share, with a total value of $622,564.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,015,221 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,350,083. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 10.30% of the company’s stock.

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.