Brokerages Set Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) PT at $26.00

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hovde Group cut Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson increased their price target on Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th.

Alerus Financial Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Alerus Financial stock opened at $23.88 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $24.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.83. Alerus Financial has a fifty-two week low of $15.78 and a fifty-two week high of $26.32. The firm has a market cap of $606.58 million, a P/E ratio of 36.18 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.28. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 13.18% and a net margin of 4.36%.The company had revenue of $77.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.43 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 27th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is 127.27%.

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALRS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd 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 raised its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 830,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,692,000 after buying an additional 33,359 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 valued at $13,591,000 after buying an additional 23,403 shares during the last quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 516,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,632,000 after buying an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alerus Financial by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 476,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,819,000 after buying an additional 4,284 shares in the last quarter. 51.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.