The Dividend Daily

Dime Bancorp (DCOM) has done a decent job avoiding the recent financial carnage for the most part, but unfortunately, the credit crisis may be too wide for this small bank to sidestep. The Brooklyn-based bank had held up well, but the last six weeks has seen shares pull back over 20% from their 52 week highs. We feel the same way about Astoria Federal (AF), which we have also advised moving to the sidelines on. Astoria has dropped over 30% since April's highs. Both companies pay decent dividend yields: Astoria has a 5.48% dividend yield, based on last night's close of $18.97, while Dime Bancorp pays a 3.75% dividend yield, based on last night's close of $14.94. For now, we don't see much upside in these two small banks. A lack of bank takeovers and concerns about bad loans are too hard to ignore. Investors may prefer to look elsewhere for dividend stocks with better outlooks. Dime Bancorp (DCOM) is not recommended at this time, and currently holds a Dividend.com rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars. Astoria Federal (AF) is not recommended at this time, and currently holds a Dividend.com rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars. Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks as well as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here.

Dividend.com archives (articles more than 30 days old) are only available to Dividend.com Premium subscribers.

Sign up for a Dividend.com Premium account for instant access to article archives, stock ratings on over 2,000 dividend-paying stocks, and much more! FREE TRIAL available!