Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Announces $0.25 Quarterly Dividend

Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 28th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 17th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the savings and loans company on Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 16th.

Dime Community Bancshares has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 13.3% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Dime Community Bancshares has a payout ratio of 35.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Dime Community Bancshares to earn $2.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 35.7%.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:DCOM traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $18.51. 172,405 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 243,544. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock's 50-day moving average is $18.76 and its 200-day moving average is $21.11. The firm has a market cap of $719.67 million, a PE ratio of 8.08 and a beta of 1.02. Dime Community Bancshares has a twelve month low of $15.57 and a twelve month high of $27.91.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The savings and loans company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $167.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $81.01 million. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 14.89%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.99 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Dime Community Bancshares will post 1.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Dime Community Bancshares

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 27,068 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $23.00 per share, with a total value of $622,564.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,015,221 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,350,083. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 10.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Dime Community Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,459,856 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $66,244,000 after buying an additional 90,575 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 135,045 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $3,637,000 after buying an additional 5,853 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 83,690 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,254,000 after buying an additional 3,294 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 34.4% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 87,402 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,354,000 after buying an additional 22,371 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Dime Community Bancshares by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 100,929 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $2,718,000 after buying an additional 5,807 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DCOM shares. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $30.00 to $25.50 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Dime Community Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $25.88.

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.