Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Alerus Financial in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Alerus Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Alerus Financial from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $36.00 price target on Alerus Financial in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.50.

Alerus Financial Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:ALRS opened at $34.12 on Friday. Alerus Financial has a fifty-two week low of $20.26 and a fifty-two week high of $34.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $857.44 million, a PE ratio of 32.19 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.05.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.03. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 6.87%.The business had revenue of $80.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.99 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Alerus Financial will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th were given a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alerus Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 26th. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is presently 83.02%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALRS. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in Alerus Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $1,951,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 60.4% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 92,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after buying an additional 34,754 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 81,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the first quarter valued at about $90,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 56,763 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

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.