Zacks Research Upgrades Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) to “Strong-Buy”

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

ALRS has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $28.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alerus Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.38.

Alerus Financial Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Alerus Financial stock opened at $27.10 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.47. The company has a market cap of $692.68 million, a P/E ratio of 26.31 and a beta of 0.67. Alerus Financial has a fifty-two week low of $20.26 and a fifty-two week high of $27.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.31. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 6.74% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $75.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.78 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALRS. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alerus Financial by 90.1% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 2,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

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.