Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $21.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated 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 Shore Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in Shore Bancshares by 98.9% during 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 period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in Shore Bancshares by 168.7% during 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 period. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its stake in Shore Bancshares by 207.4% during the 4th quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 4,138 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 2,792 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

SHBI opened at $20.99 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $702.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.84. 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 1-year low of $14.35 and a 1-year high of $21.17. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.72.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.35 million. Research analysts predict that Shore Bancshares will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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. This is a boost from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Shore Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 29.79%.

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.