Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) was in 11 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of March. DCOM has seen a decrease in hedge fund sentiment in recent months. There were 11 hedge funds in our database with DCOM positions at the end of the previous quarter.
To the average investor, there are many metrics shareholders can use to analyze their holdings. Some of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the top money managers can outclass their index-focused peers by a significant amount (see just how much).
Equally as important, optimistic insider trading activity is a second way to break down the marketplace. Obviously, there are a variety of motivations for an executive to cut shares of his or her company, but just one, very obvious reason why they would behave bullishly. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this method if shareholders know what to do (learn more here).
Consequently, we’re going to take a peek at the recent action regarding Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM).
How are hedge funds trading Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)?
At the end of the first quarter, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track were long in this stock, a change of 0% from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of noteworthy hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes substantially.
When looking at the hedgies we track, Daniel Lascano’s Lomas Capital Management had the most valuable position in Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM), worth close to $2.3 million, comprising 0.7% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Bryn Mawr Capital, managed by Ken Gray and Steve Walsh, which held a $2.1 million position; the fund has 0.2% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other hedgies with similar optimism include Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Neil Chriss’s Hutchin Hill Capital and Irving Kahn’s Kahn Brothers.
Judging by the fact that Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has faced falling interest from the aggregate hedge fund industry, it’s easy to see that there was a specific group of fund managers that elected to cut their positions entirely in Q1. It’s worth mentioning that Mike Vranos’s Ellington dropped the largest stake of all the hedgies we key on, valued at about $0.2 million in stock. These moves are intriguing to say the least, as aggregate hedge fund interest stayed the same (this is a bearish signal in our experience).
How are insiders trading Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM)?
Insider purchases made by high-level executives is best served when the company in focus has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest 180-day time frame, Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) has experienced zero unique insiders buying, and 8 insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).
Let’s check out hedge fund and insider activity in other stocks similar to Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM). These stocks are Meridian Interstate Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBSB), Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR), BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI), Roma Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ROMA), and Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC). This group of stocks are in the savings & loans industry and their market caps are similar to DCOM’s market cap.
| Company Name | # of Hedge Funds | # of Insiders Buying | # of Insiders Selling |
| Meridian Interstate Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBSB) | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Banner Corporation (NASDAQ:BANR) | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| BofI Holding, Inc. (NASDAQ:BOFI) | 8 | 0 | 5 |
| Roma Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ROMA) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Flushing Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:FFIC) | 6 | 0 | 7 |
With the results demonstrated by our research, retail investors should always pay attention to hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:DCOM) shareholders fit into this picture quite nicely.
