Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM - Free Report) by 37.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 661,608 shares of the savings and loans company's stock after purchasing an additional 180,664 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 1.69% of Dime Community Bancshares worth $20,335,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,448 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $106,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 58.0% during 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 period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position 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 valued at $258,000 after acquiring an additional 855 shares during the period. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings 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 increased its stake in shares of Dime Community Bancshares by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 11,395 shares of the savings and loans company's stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 978 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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 dated Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.20, for a total transaction of $306,228.00. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Raymond A. Nielsen sold 3,000 shares of Dime Community Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 41,185 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,031.25. This represents a 6.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Dime Community Bancshares from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $38.00 in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective 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. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Dime Community Bancshares presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.88.

Dime Community Bancshares Price Performance

DCOM traded up $0.60 during trading on Thursday, hitting $26.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 33,207 shares, compared to its average volume of 262,543. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $26.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.39. Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.49 and a twelve month high of $37.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.29 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

Dime Community Bancshares (NASDAQ:DCOM - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The savings and loans company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $103.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 5.15%. Dime Community Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 158.73%.

Dime Community Bancshares 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.