Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Raises Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Price Target to $25.00

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $22.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the bank’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.60% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Shore Bancshares from $24.00 to $26.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their price objective on shares of Shore Bancshares from $23.50 to $26.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.00.

Shore Bancshares Trading Up 1.2%

SHBI opened at $23.90 on Tuesday. Shore Bancshares has a 52 week low of $14.93 and a 52 week high of $24.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.00. The firm has a market cap of $799.69 million, a P/E ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $61.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.24% and a net margin of 19.15%. On average, equities analysts expect that Shore Bancshares will post 2.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Shore Bancshares announced that its board has initiated a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SHBI. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 21.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,168 shares of the bank’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 4,154 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 599.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 112,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 96,204 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,226 shares of the bank’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 219,494 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,972,000 after purchasing an additional 34,453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 126.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 78,095 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 43,613 shares during the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.