Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 157,794 Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 157,794 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $4,850,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.40% of Dime Community Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DCOM. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 654 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 11.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 50.8% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,697 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Finally, Amalgamated Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DCOM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Dime Community Bancshares from $42.00 to $41.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stephens lowered their price objective on shares of 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded 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 report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:DCOM traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $25.99. The company had a trading volume of 32,275 shares, compared to its average volume of 262,135. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.49 and a 1-year high of $37.60. The stock has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of 43.99 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business's 50 day moving average price is $27.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.55.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Dime Community Bancshares had a return on equity of 5.43% and a net margin of 4.50%. The firm had revenue of $103.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $105.83 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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 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 is a positive change from Dime Community Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.38 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%. Dime Community Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 158.73%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L acquired 1,043 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $31.23 per share, with a total value of $32,572.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,043 shares of the company's stock, valued at $32,572.89. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total transaction of $93,750.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 41,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,031.25. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 1,729 shares of company stock valued at $48,021. 7.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.