Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Has $70.67 Million Stock Position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,299,379 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 71,273 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 5.87% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $70,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 91.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 75,732 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $2,181,000 after purchasing an additional 36,076 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Dime Community Bancshares by 10.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 52,499 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 5,017 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $92,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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 dated 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 owns 41,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Stephens lowered their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $36.00 to $32.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with 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, Dime Community Bancshares has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:DCOM traded up $0.78 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.65. 184,993 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 263,645. The stock has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.17 and a beta of 0.96. 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 fifty-two week low of $17.49 and a fifty-two week high of $37.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.49.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.02. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 4.50%. The company had revenue of $103.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $105.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.3438 per share. This represents a $1.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.16%. This is a boost from Dime Community Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Dime Community Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.