Azora Capital LP Takes Position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Azora Capital LP acquired a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 31,874 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $980,000. Azora Capital LP owned 0.08% of Dime Community Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,739,614 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $84,202,000 after purchasing an additional 256,466 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,299,379 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $70,671,000 after purchasing an additional 71,273 shares in the last quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. increased its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 2,064,565 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $63,454,000 after buying an additional 30,202 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,017,209 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $61,999,000 after buying an additional 233,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,073,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In other Dime Community Bancshares news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total transaction of $93,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. This trade represents a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total value of $306,228.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 37,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,158,986.40. This trade represents a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 7.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DCOM shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens reduced their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $36.00 to $32.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised Dime Community Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 3.0 %

Dime Community Bancshares stock opened at $26.65 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 45.17 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock's fifty day moving average is $27.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.48. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.49 and a 1-year high of $37.60.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $103.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $105.83 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 4.50%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a $0.3438 dividend. This is a boost from Dime Community Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.16%. Dime Community Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 158.73%.

Dime Community Bancshares 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.

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