Short Interest in Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI) Expands By 55.6%

Shore Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHBI) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of 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 currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Shore Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SHBI traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $13.53. The stock had a trading volume of 60,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,825. The stock has a market cap of $451.29 million, a P/E ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $15.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a current ratio of 0.94. Shore Bancshares has a 12-month low of $10.06 and a 12-month high of $17.61.

Shore Bancshares (NASDAQ:SHBI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Shore Bancshares will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Shore Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors 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 was Thursday, February 13th. Shore Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 36.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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