Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Reiterates Market Perform Rating for Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI)

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $20.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.21% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on SHBI. Weiss Ratings upgraded Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Hovde Group lifted their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shore Bancshares currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.17.

Shore Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of SHBI stock opened at $19.76 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $18.86 and its 200-day moving average is $17.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $660.38 million, a PE ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 0.85. Shore Bancshares has a 52 week low of $11.47 and a 52 week high of $20.68.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $59.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $57.55 million. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 17.36%. Equities research analysts expect that Shore Bancshares will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Shore Bancshares

In related news, Director William E. Esham III bought 5,000 shares of Shore Bancshares stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.99 per share, for a total transaction of $99,950.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 5,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $110,144.90. This represents a 980.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 8.69% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 2.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,781,501 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,234,000 after buying an additional 48,390 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,630,022 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,819,000 after buying an additional 20,406 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 7.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC boosted 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. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 168.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 495,965 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,769,000 after buying an additional 311,266 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

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.