Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

SHBI has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shore Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SHBI opened at $23.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.39. Shore Bancshares has a 52-week low of $14.93 and a 52-week high of $23.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $782.96 million, a PE ratio of 12.45 and a beta of 0.82.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.10. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 18.20%.The firm had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.35 million. Analysts forecast that Shore Bancshares will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Shore Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SHBI. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Shore Bancshares by 54.5% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 183,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 64,806 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new position in Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,867,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 27.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,372 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 2,675 shares during the last quarter. Anchyra Partners LLC purchased a new position in Shore Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $253,000. Finally, Quotient Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Shore Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

Shore Bancshares Company Profile

Shore Bancshares, Inc (NASDAQ: SHBI) is the bank holding company for Shore Community Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Mount Holly, New Jersey. The company provides a full suite of banking and financial services to individuals and businesses, including deposit accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage financing, and cash management solutions. Through its branch network, Shore Bancshares focuses on delivering community-oriented banking services with an emphasis on personalized customer relationships.

Shore Community Bank’s lending portfolio includes commercial real estate, construction loans, agricultural loans, small business loans under government-sponsored programs, and conventional residential mortgages.