Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $28.3750.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Research raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised Alerus Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 3rd. Weiss Ratings raised Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Alerus Financial from $28.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,101,000 after acquiring an additional 16,779 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 6.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,027,000 after acquiring an additional 56,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,591,000 after acquiring an additional 23,403 shares in the last quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 516,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,632,000 after acquiring an additional 2,597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 476,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,819,000 after buying an additional 4,284 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Alerus Financial Trading Down 0.9%

ALRS opened at $26.55 on Friday. Alerus Financial has a one year low of $20.26 and a one year high of $27.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $667.20 million, a PE ratio of 25.78 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $24.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.31. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 6.74%.The firm had revenue of $75.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.78 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alerus Financial will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Alerus Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Investors of record on Friday, March 27th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 27th. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 81.55%.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ALRS) is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The firm provides a full range of commercial and consumer banking products, including deposit accounts, lending solutions and treasury management services for individuals, small businesses and larger corporate clients. Through its community banking network, Alerus emphasizes local decision-making and personalized service to meet the needs of its varied client base.

In addition to traditional banking offerings, Alerus operates a national mortgage origination and servicing platform that delivers home purchase and refinance loans.