Rhino Investment Partners Inc Makes New $1.84 Million Investment in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)

Rhino Investment Partners 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 59,935 shares of the savings and loans company's stock, valued at approximately $1,842,000. Rhino Investment Partners Inc owned about 0.15% of Dime Community Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,073,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC bought a new stake in Dime Community Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,068,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. boosted its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 86.3% during the fourth quarter. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. now owns 620,155 shares of the savings and loans company's stock worth $19,060,000 after purchasing an additional 287,195 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,739,614 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $84,202,000 after buying an additional 256,466 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,017,209 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $61,999,000 after buying an additional 233,417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.27% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Basswood Capital Management, L sold 9,815 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total value of $306,228.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 37,147 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,158,986.40. This represents a 20.90 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.25, for a total transaction of $93,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 41,185 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,287,031.25. The trade was a 6.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on DCOM. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased 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. Piper Sandler upgraded Dime Community Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Dime Community Bancshares from $36.00 to $32.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Stock Up 3.0 %

Dime Community Bancshares stock traded up $0.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.65. The stock had a trading volume of 184,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 263,645. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.17 and a beta of 1.09. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $27.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.49 and a 1-year high of $37.60.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. Dime Community Bancshares had a net margin of 4.50% and a return on equity of 5.43%. The company had revenue of $103.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $105.83 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Dime Community Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.3438 per share. This is a boost from Dime Community Bancshares's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.16%. Dime Community Bancshares's payout ratio is 158.73%.

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.