Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Hits New 52-Week High – Here’s What Happened

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $29.30 and last traded at $29.2350, with a volume of 71740 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $28.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Alerus Financial from $28.00 to $28.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two equities 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alerus Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.38.

Alerus Financial Stock Up 0.8%

The firm has a market cap of $727.03 million, a P/E ratio of 28.08 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $26.22 and a 200-day moving average of $24.47.

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

Alerus Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. This is a boost from Alerus Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.44%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alerus Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alerus Financial by 1.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,101,000 after buying an additional 16,779 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Alerus Financial by 6.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,027,000 after buying an additional 56,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alerus Financial by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,591,000 after buying an additional 23,403 shares during the last quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Alerus Financial by 0.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.