Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 20,000 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 30.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,000 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned about 0.10% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 125.0% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 900 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 861.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,017 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Dime Community Bancshares by 14.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,931 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $209,000. Institutional investors own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.58, for a total transaction of $51,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 35,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $905,327.36. This represents a 5.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Down 4.1%

NASDAQ:DCOM opened at $26.22 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 44.44 and a beta of 1.07. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $17.49 and a 52-week high of $37.60. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.15.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $103.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th were 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 5.24%. Dime Community Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stephens lowered their price target on Dime Community Bancshares from $36.00 to $32.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded 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 given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Dime Community Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.88.

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.

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