Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $22.00.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research lowered Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Friday, July 17th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 54.5% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 183,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,249,000 after buying an additional 64,806 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $1,867,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the first quarter worth about $306,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new position in Shore Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $235,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 2,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of SHBI stock opened at $23.61 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $789.99 million, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Shore Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $14.93 and a fifty-two week high of $23.92.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $61.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a net margin of 19.15% and a return on equity of 12.24%. Analysts predict that Shore Bancshares will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.28%.

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.