Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) Stock Passes Above 200 Day Moving Average – What’s Next?

Shares of Shore Bancshares Inc (NASDAQ:SHBI) crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $17.63 and traded as high as $18.74. Shore Bancshares shares last traded at $18.68, with a volume of 246,771 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SHBI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Shore Bancshares from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Shore Bancshares from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Hovde Group raised 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.17.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $630.30 million, a P/E ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.64. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $59.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.55 million. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 17.36%. On average, research analysts predict that Shore Bancshares Inc will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 4th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 4th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Shore Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is 26.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Shore Bancshares news, Director William E. Esham III acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.99 per share, for a total transaction of $99,950.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 5,510 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $110,144.90. This trade represents a 980.39% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 8.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 21,691 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,000 after buying an additional 4,958 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 154,617 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 14,850 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd raised its holdings in Shore Bancshares by 96.9% in the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 19,878 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 9,782 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,150,208 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,336,000 after acquiring an additional 84,298 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Shore Bancshares by 152.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 187,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 113,446 shares in the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.