Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) Given New $42.00 Price Target at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $38.00 to $42.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the savings and loans company’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 17.52% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stephens upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.20.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.74. 39,880 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 235,381. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 23.83 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $31.57 and a 200 day moving average of $25.54. Dime Community Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $17.29 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $171.87 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.65 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.58% and a net margin of 9.65%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L bought 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $32.00 per share, for a total transaction of $928,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,044,221 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $33,415,072. The trade was a 2.86 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 9.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Dime Community Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DCOM. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 0.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 109,328 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,397 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $155,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 30.4% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,936 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 31.2% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,305 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 46,000 shares of the savings and loans company’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 75.27% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.