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

Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI) was the target of a large 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. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 186,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SHBI. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Shore Bancshares in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Shore Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Shore Bancshares Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:SHBI opened at $13.54 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $451.59 million, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Shore Bancshares has a 12-month low of $10.06 and a 12-month high of $17.61.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.09. Shore Bancshares had a return on equity of 10.40% and a net margin of 13.44%. Equities research analysts expect that Shore Bancshares will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Shore Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 13th were paid a $0.12 dividend. 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 payout ratio is presently 36.09%.

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 company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Shore Bancshares by 59.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 170,444 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after buying an additional 63,539 shares in the last quarter. Investment Management Corp VA ADV bought a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Man Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Shore Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth about $541,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Shore Bancshares by 67.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 116,031 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,839,000 after purchasing an additional 46,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new position in shares of Shore Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $179,000. 59.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.