Basswood Capital Management, L Sells 20,687 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Stock

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 20,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.17, for a total value of $851,683.79. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,396 shares in the company, valued at approximately $263,323.32. This represents a 76.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Basswood Capital Management, L also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, July 31st, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 53,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.76, for a total value of $2,160,280.00.
• On Thursday, July 30th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 10,929 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.79, for a total value of $445,793.91.
• On Thursday, June 18th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 32,751 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.02, for a total value of $1,277,944.02.
• On Friday, June 12th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 15,870 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.08, for a total transaction of $636,069.60.
• On Tuesday, June 16th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 14,019 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.29, for a total transaction of $550,806.51.
• On Monday, June 15th, Basswood Capital Management, L sold 14,513 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.67, for a total transaction of $575,730.71.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:DCOM traded up $0.46 on Monday, reaching $41.22. 258,793 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 305,344. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.47 and a beta of 0.99. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.63 and a 12 month high of $41.62. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.11.

Dime Community Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 17th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Dime Community Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.10%.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,263,230 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $128,281,000 after acquiring an additional 857,001 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 1.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,353,786 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $79,602,000 after purchasing an additional 23,035 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,824,019 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $54,885,000 after purchasing an additional 8,936 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 599,103 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $18,027,000 after purchasing an additional 99,011 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 535,598 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $16,116,000 after purchasing an additional 44,122 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DCOM shares. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $40.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.75.

Dime Community Bancshares Company Profile

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.