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

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.10, Zacks reports. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 19.15%.The business had revenue of $61.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.42 million.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SHBI opened at $23.61 on Friday. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.94. The stock has a market cap of $789.99 million, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 0.82. Shore Bancshares has a twelve month low of $14.93 and a twelve month high of $23.92.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This is a positive change from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Shore Bancshares’s payout ratio is 29.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Shore Bancshares by 29.6% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 21,691 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 4,958 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Shore Bancshares by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 154,617 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after buying an additional 14,850 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Shore Bancshares by 96.9% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 19,878 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,150,208 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,336,000 after acquiring an additional 84,298 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 152.2% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 187,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,323,000 after acquiring an additional 113,446 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

Shore Bancshares announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to repurchase $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHBI has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research lowered Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

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.