Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.10 EPS

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.10, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $61.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.84% and a net margin of 18.20%.

Shore Bancshares Price Performance

Shore Bancshares stock traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $23.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 22,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 227,023. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. Shore Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $14.93 and a fifty-two week high of $23.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $783.80 million, a PE ratio of 12.48 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.92.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on SHBI shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,781,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,234,000 after acquiring an additional 48,390 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,630,022 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,819,000 after buying an additional 20,406 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,150,208 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,336,000 after buying an additional 84,298 shares in the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC grew its stake in Shore Bancshares by 61.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 918,202 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,234,000 after purchasing an additional 350,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Shore Bancshares by 168.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 495,965 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,769,000 after acquiring an additional 311,266 shares in the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.