Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) Receives $21.33 Average PT from Analysts

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.3333.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SHBI shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Shore Bancshares from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th.

Institutional Trading of Shore Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SHBI. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Shore Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Shore Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Shore Bancshares by 98.9% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,124 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 1,553 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Shore Bancshares by 168.7% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,471 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Shore Bancshares by 239.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

Shore Bancshares Trading Up 2.4%

NASDAQ SHBI opened at $22.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Shore Bancshares has a 52 week low of $14.35 and a 52 week high of $22.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $763.22 million, a PE ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.94.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The company had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.35 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Shore Bancshares will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Shore Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 29.79%.

Shore Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

About Shore Bancshares

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.