Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $19.39 and last traded at $19.2880, with a volume of 40863 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $18.90.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on SHBI shares. Hovde Group began coverage on Shore Bancshares in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $19.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research cut Shore Bancshares from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wall Street Zen lowered Shore Bancshares from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Shore Bancshares from $18.00 to $18.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Shore Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.75.

Shore Bancshares Trading Up 2.1%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market cap of $645.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.79.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $56.36 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.70 million. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.25% and a net margin of 16.78%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. Shore Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 28.24%.

Insider Activity

In other Shore Bancshares news, EVP Aaron Michael Kaslow purchased 6,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $15.56 per share, for a total transaction of $101,140.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the executive vice president owned 6,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,140. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have acquired a total of 7,700 shares of company stock worth $121,994 over the last ninety days. 8.69% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SHBI. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 2.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,781,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,234,000 after buying an additional 48,390 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 4.2% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,609,616 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,414,000 after acquiring an additional 64,175 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 19.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,065,910 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,492,000 after acquiring an additional 175,282 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Shore Bancshares by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 749,327 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,782,000 after purchasing an additional 35,407 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 682,947 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,736,000 after purchasing an additional 88,844 shares during the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.