Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $23.61 and last traded at $23.5710, with a volume of 57012 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $23.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued 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 shares of Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

Shore Bancshares Trading Up 2.5%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $789.66 million, a P/E ratio of 12.54 and a beta of 0.82.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.55 EPS 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 company had revenue of $59.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.35 million. As a group, analysts expect that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 2.12 EPS for the current year.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This is a positive change from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.79%.

Shore Bancshares declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 4.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fourthstone LLC increased its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 61.6% during the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 918,202 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,234,000 after buying an additional 350,012 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Shore Bancshares by 578.2% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 380,283 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,104,000 after purchasing an additional 324,208 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 168.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 495,965 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,769,000 after acquiring an additional 311,266 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 19.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,065,910 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,492,000 after buying an additional 175,282 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 143.3% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,109 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,293,000 after buying an additional 160,850 shares during the period. 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.