Shore Bancshares announces stock repurchase plan

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Easton-based Shore Bancshares Inc. announced Wednesday it had received a non-objection letter from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond to allow the company to repurchase up to $5 million of its own common stock.

As of Nov. 24, the company had 12,036,573 outstanding shares of common stock. The program may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. The program will expire Dec. 31, 2021.

The newly-approved stock repurchase program follows the company’s prior stock repurchase program, which was approved in April 2019 and authorized the repurchase of up to $10 million of common stock. In connection with the prior stock repurchase program, which concluded in the fourth quarter of 2020, the company purchased an aggregate of 772,971 shares of its common stock for aggregate cash consideration of $9.9 million.

Under the new stock repurchase program, shares of common stock may be repurchased by the Company from time to time in open market transactions or in privately negotiated transactions as permitted under applicable rules and regulations.

Repurchases may be conducted, suspended, or terminated at any time without notice. The extent to which the company repurchases its shares and the timing of such repurchases will depend upon market conditions and other considerations as may be considered in the Company’s sole discretion. Repurchases may also be made pursuant to a trading plan under Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities  Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which would permit shares to be repurchased when the Company might otherwise be precluded from doing so because of self-imposed trading blackout periods or other regulatory restrictions.

Shore Bancshares is a financial holding company and is the largest independent bank holding company located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It is the parent company of Shore United Bank. Shore Bancshares engages in trust and wealth management services through Wye Financial & Trust, a division of Shore United Bank.