Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $25.30 and last traded at $25.25, with a volume of 21618 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $24.62.

ALRS has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Alerus Financial from $25.50 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Raymond James Financial set a $29.00 target price on Alerus Financial and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Hovde Group downgraded Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alerus Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ALRS. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alerus Financial by 90.1% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 732 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 172.7% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Alerus Financial Stock Up 3.1%

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $22.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $645.03 million, a P/E ratio of 38.46 and a beta of 0.64.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.28. The company 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%. On average, research 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 127.27%.

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.