Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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 stock has a market capitalization of $821.11 million, a PE ratio of 12.39 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $22.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.10.

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

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.28%.

Shore Bancshares declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Thursday, May 21st that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 million in outstanding 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 an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Shore Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SHBI. Chapin Davis Inc. purchased a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $224,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 6,263.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 4,760 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 38.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 578.2% during the 1st 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 4.2% during the 1st 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.