Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ALRS. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $29.00 price target on shares of Alerus Financial and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Alerus Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Hovde Group lowered shares of Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target 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, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALRS stock opened at $25.94 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $24.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a market cap of $663.03 million, a PE ratio of 39.30 and a beta of 0.59. Alerus Financial has a 12 month low of $17.50 and a 12 month high of $26.32.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.85 EPS 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 13.18%. Equities research analysts expect that Alerus Financial will post 2.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 27th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 27th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 127.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 3.8% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 21,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 43.0% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 46,666 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 14,026 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 15,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 4,002 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 245,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,529,000 after purchasing an additional 19,490 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 64,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 13,070 shares during the period. 51.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.