Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI) Short Interest Up 55.6% in March

Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 294,100 shares, an increase of 55.6% from the February 28th total of 189,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 186,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth about $2,645,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Shore Bancshares by 45.7% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 469,182 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,437,000 after acquiring an additional 147,148 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,479,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 394.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 104,174 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,651,000 after purchasing an additional 83,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 152.4% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 137,599 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,181,000 after purchasing an additional 83,079 shares during the period. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Shore Bancshares Stock Down 2.7 %

Shore Bancshares stock opened at $13.54 on Friday. Shore Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $10.06 and a fifty-two week high of $17.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $451.59 million, a PE ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day moving average is $15.08 and its 200-day moving average is $15.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.09. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 13.44%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Shore Bancshares will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Shore Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 13th. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 36.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SHBI. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Shore Bancshares in a report on Thursday, February 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $20.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Shore Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

About Shore Bancshares

Shore Bancshares, Inc operates as a bank holding company for the Shore United Bank, N.A. that provides various commercial and consumer banking products and services to individuals, businesses, and other organizations. It offers checking, savings, overnight investment sweep, and money market accounts; and regular and IRA certificates of deposit, as well as CDARS programs and cash management services.