Principal Financial Group Inc. Makes New $711,000 Investment in Alerus Financial $ALRS

Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 29,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $711,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of Alerus Financial as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ALRS. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 90.1% in 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 last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 25.7% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 2,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial during the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Alerus Financial by 172.7% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Alerus Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Alerus Financial in a report on Thursday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alerus Financial 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 1 year low of $20.26 and a 1 year high of $34.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.95. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $80.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.99 million. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 6.87%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 3.03 EPS for the current year.

Alerus Financial Increases Dividend

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

Alerus Financial 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.