New York State Common Retirement Fund Grows Holdings in Alerus Financial $ALRS

New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) by 349.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,981 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,530 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Alerus Financial were worth $642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. CSM Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alerus Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,123,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alerus Financial by 265.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 236,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,123,000 after purchasing an additional 171,984 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,982,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,341,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 302.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 72,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,567,000 after buying an additional 54,418 shares during the period. 51.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alerus Financial Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ ALRS opened at $25.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $642.62 million, a PE ratio of 38.33 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alerus Financial has a 12-month low of $15.78 and a 12-month high of $26.32. The company has a 50-day moving average of $23.52 and a 200 day moving average of $22.40.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $77.07 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.43 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 13.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is 127.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hovde Group cut shares of Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alerus Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

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.