Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI)’s share price crossed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $19.56 and traded as high as $22.45. Shore Bancshares shares last traded at $22.43, with a volume of 175,917 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SHBI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued 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 report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings raised Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Shore Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $757.44 million, a P/E ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 0.82. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.58.

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

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. This is a positive change from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.79%.

Shore Bancshares declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $30.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chapin Davis Inc. bought a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares in the second quarter worth $224,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 6,263.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 4,760 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 38.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 76,925 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 21,308 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 578.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 380,283 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,104,000 after purchasing an additional 324,208 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 28,101 shares of the bank’s stock worth $525,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. 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.