Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SHBI shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $24.00 to $26.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Hovde Group increased their price target on Shore Bancshares from $23.50 to $26.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of SHBI opened at $23.14 on Friday. Shore Bancshares has a 12 month low of $14.93 and a 12 month high of $24.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $772.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.10. Shore Bancshares had a net margin of 19.15% and a return on equity of 12.11%. The firm had revenue of $61.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.42 million. Research analysts forecast that Shore Bancshares will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 2nd. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 28.28%.

Shore Bancshares announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that permits the company to buyback $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 4.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Allworth Financial LP acquired a new stake in Shore Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Shore Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $70,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Shore Bancshares by 239.1% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 3,173 shares during the last quarter. 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.