Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

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

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

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALRS. Thompson Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the second quarter valued at about $32,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $59,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 172.7% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,371 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Alerus Financial Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $645.03 million, a PE ratio of 38.46 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $22.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.23.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.43 million. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 4.36%. Research analysts expect that Alerus Financial will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Dividend Announcement

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

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.