Bridge Bancorp, Inc. (BDGE)

Bridge Bancorp, Inc. was the bank holding company for BNB Bank, a community and commercial bank serving Long Island and the New York City area. The bank traced its roots to the Bridgehampton National Bank, founded in 1910 in the village of Bridgehampton on the East End of Long Island. Over the decades it grew from a small local lender into a regional franchise focused on commercial real estate, business lending and deposits. Its common stock traded on Nasdaq under the symbol BDGE.

Growth accelerated in the 2000s and 2010s as the bank expanded westward across Suffolk and Nassau counties and into the boroughs. A key step was the 2015 acquisition of Community National Bank, which added branches and commercial customers in western Long Island and Queens. The bank later shortened its brand to BNB Bank and moved its headquarters to Hauppauge. By 2020 it had roughly $6 billion in assets.

On July 1, 2020, Bridge and Brooklyn-based Dime Community Bancshares agreed to an all-stock merger of equals. Bridge was the legal acquirer: each share of legacy Dime was converted into 0.648 Bridge shares, while Bridge holders kept their shares. When the deal closed on February 1, 2021, Bridge renamed itself Dime Community Bancshares, Inc. and its ticker changed from BDGE to DCOM.

The combined bank started out with more than $12 billion in assets, over $9 billion in deposits and more than 60 branches, operating under the Dime Community Bank name. Former BDGE shareholders hold the same shares, now listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market as DCOM. The company's preferred stock also trades on Nasdaq.