Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $26.00.

SHBI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Zacks Research lowered Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $24.00 to $26.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SHBI. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 23,168 shares of the bank’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 599.2% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 112,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after purchasing an additional 96,204 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $247,000 after purchasing an additional 780 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 18.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its holdings in shares of Shore Bancshares by 126.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 78,095 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 43,613 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

Shore Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ SHBI opened at $23.06 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. The company has a market cap of $769.51 million, a PE ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 0.81. Shore Bancshares has a 52 week low of $14.93 and a 52 week high of $24.89. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $23.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.84.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $61.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a net margin of 19.15% and a return on equity of 12.11%. Research analysts predict that Shore Bancshares will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Shore Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.28%.

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.