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

Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $22.23 and last traded at $22.13, with a volume of 254786 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $21.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on SHBI. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Shore Bancshares from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Shore Bancshares in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings raised Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Shore Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $21.33.

Shore Bancshares Trading Up 2.1%

The company has a market cap of $740.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $19.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

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

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This is a positive change from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.79%.

Shore Bancshares announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, May 21st that allows the company to buyback $30.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 4.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,781,501 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,234,000 after purchasing an additional 48,390 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 3.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,683,403 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,445,000 after acquiring an additional 53,381 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,150,208 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,336,000 after acquiring an additional 84,298 shares in the last quarter. Fourthstone LLC boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 61.6% in the fourth quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 918,202 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,234,000 after acquiring an additional 350,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 168.5% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 495,965 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,769,000 after acquiring an additional 311,266 shares in the last quarter. 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.