Marshall Wace LLP Purchases 46,440 Shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 505.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 55,631 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after acquiring an additional 46,440 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.14% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $1,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,782 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings 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 worth $83,000 after buying an additional 909 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $92,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. 75.27% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the company'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 owns 41,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred 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. The trade was a 20.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Dime Community Bancshares Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of DCOM traded up $0.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $26.65. 184,993 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 263,645. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.49 and a 12 month high of $37.60. 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 has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.17 and a beta of 1.09. The stock's 50-day moving average is $27.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.48.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last released 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 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. Research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a $0.3438 dividend. 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 yield of 5.16%. Dime Community Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is currently 158.73%.

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.