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

Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 294,100 shares, a growth 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 currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SHBI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Shore Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Shore Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Shore Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Investment Management Corp VA ADV purchased a new stake in Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Shore Bancshares by 43,326.3% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 8,251 shares of the bank’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 8,232 shares during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $179,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth approximately $201,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Shore Bancshares by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 13,871 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 2,734 shares during the last quarter. 59.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of SHBI stock opened at $13.54 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $451.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.01. Shore Bancshares has a 52-week low of $10.06 and a 52-week high of $17.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.22.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last released its earnings results 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Shore Bancshares will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Shore Bancshares Company Profile

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.