Principal Financial Group Inc. Takes $834,000 Position in Shore Bancshares Inc $SHBI

Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 44,633 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $834,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 54.5% in the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 183,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 64,806 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,867,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $398,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares during the first quarter valued at about $306,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth about $235,000. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Shore Bancshares from $24.00 to $26.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Hovde Group increased their price target on Shore Bancshares from $23.50 to $26.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Friday, July 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Shore Bancshares currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.00.

Shore Bancshares Stock Up 0.2%

Shore Bancshares stock opened at $24.50 on Friday. Shore Bancshares Inc has a 1-year low of $14.93 and a 1-year high of $24.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $819.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $22.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $61.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a net margin of 19.15% and a return on equity of 12.24%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This is an increase from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.28%.

Shore Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to purchase up to 4.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Shore Bancshares Company Profile

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.