Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Acquires 71,273 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,299,379 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after buying an additional 71,273 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.87% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $70,671,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 8,386 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,395 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DCOM. Piper Sandler raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price 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. Stephens reduced their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $36.00 to $32.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Dime Community Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock traded down $0.20 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $26.28. The stock had a trading volume of 14,803 shares, compared to its average volume of 262,179. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.49 and a 12 month high of $37.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.70 and a beta of 1.09. The business's 50-day moving average is $26.92 and its 200 day moving average is $30.45.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $103.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Dime Community Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.3438 per share. This is an increase from Dime Community Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.23%. Dime Community Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 158.73%.

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.