Empowered Funds LLC Buys Shares of 183,176 Shore Bancshares Inc $SHBI

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 183,176 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,204,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LSV Asset Management increased its stake in Shore Bancshares by 54.5% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 183,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 64,806 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 3.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,683,403 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,445,000 after purchasing an additional 53,381 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Shore Bancshares during the first quarter worth $1,635,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the first quarter worth $834,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Shore Bancshares by 578.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 380,283 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,104,000 after purchasing an additional 324,208 shares in the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SHBI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Piper Sandler lifted 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, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Hovde Group increased 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. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Shore Bancshares presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.00.

Shore Bancshares Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Shore Bancshares stock opened at $22.96 on Tuesday. Shore Bancshares Inc has a 1 year low of $14.93 and a 1 year high of $24.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $23.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.88. The company has a market capitalization of $766.22 million, a P/E ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 0.81.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $61.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.11% and a net margin of 19.15%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Shore Bancshares announced that its board 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 buy up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.