Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $24.76 and last traded at $24.54, with a volume of 340227 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $24.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Shore Bancshares Stock Up 0.2%

The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market cap of $819.77 million, a P/E ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $22.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.17.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $61.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.42 million. Shore Bancshares had a net margin of 19.15% and a return on equity of 12.24%. Equities analysts forecast that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a $0.14 dividend. This is a positive change from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.28%.

Shore Bancshares declared that its board 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 repurchase up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Shore Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SHBI. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 54.5% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 183,777 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,249,000 after acquiring an additional 64,806 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,867,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the 1st quarter worth approximately $199,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 6,263.2% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 4,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Shore Bancshares during the first quarter valued at approximately $356,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

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.