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

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $23.40 and last traded at $23.0940, with a volume of 19163 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $22.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Zacks Research raised shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Shore Bancshares from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $20.00 price target on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Thursday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.00.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $770.55 million, a PE ratio of 12.25 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.25.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.10. Shore Bancshares had a net margin of 18.20% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The firm had revenue of $59.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.35 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were issued a $0.14 dividend. This is a boost from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 3rd. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Shore Bancshares’s payout ratio is 29.79%.

Shore Bancshares declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that allows the company to repurchase $30.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 4.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 6,263.2% during the 1st 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 during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 38.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 76,925 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after buying an additional 21,308 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 578.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 380,283 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,104,000 after acquiring an additional 324,208 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Shore Bancshares by 4.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 28,101 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $525,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 169,973 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,175,000 after purchasing an additional 15,356 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 59.76% of the company’s stock.

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.