LSV Asset Management Buys 64,806 Shares of Shore Bancshares Inc $SHBI

LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) by 54.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 183,777 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,806 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Shore Bancshares were worth $3,249,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SHBI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 19.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,065,910 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,492,000 after acquiring an additional 175,282 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 143.3% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 273,109 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,293,000 after acquiring an additional 160,850 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 62.6% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 386,889 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,349,000 after acquiring an additional 148,995 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 4.2% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,609,616 shares of the bank’s stock worth $26,414,000 after acquiring an additional 64,175 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 62.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 150,650 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,472,000 after acquiring an additional 57,999 shares in the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

SHBI opened at $20.47 on Wednesday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.49. Shore Bancshares Inc has a 1-year low of $14.25 and a 1-year high of $20.69. The company has a market cap of $684.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 0.83.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.35 million. On average, analysts expect that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 2.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Shore Bancshares Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, June 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 3rd. This is a positive change from Shore Bancshares’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.53%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SHBI. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Hovde Group increased their target price on shares of Shore Bancshares from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Shore Bancshares from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Shore Bancshares from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $21.33.

Shore Bancshares 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.