Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Price Target Raised to $32.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) had its price target increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $29.00 to $32.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alerus Financial from $28.50 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.75.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALRS opened at $33.27 on Friday. Alerus Financial has a 12 month low of $20.26 and a 12 month high of $34.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $30.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $26.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $836.08 million, a PE ratio of 31.39 and a beta of 0.68.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 6.87%.The firm had revenue of $80.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.99 million. Equities research analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is an increase from Alerus Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is presently 83.02%.

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 16,779 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 6.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,027,000 after purchasing an additional 56,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,403 shares during the period. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 2,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in Alerus Financial by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 476,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,819,000 after buying an additional 4,284 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Alerus Financial Company Profile

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.