Analysts Set Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Price Target at $35.50

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $35.50.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on ALRS shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Alerus Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Alerus Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. DA Davidson set a $36.00 target price on Alerus Financial in a report on Friday, July 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st.

Alerus Financial Price Performance

Alerus Financial stock opened at $33.12 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $824.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25 and a beta of 0.68. Alerus Financial has a 52-week low of $20.31 and a 52-week high of $34.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.22.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $80.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.99 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 14.41%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alerus Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 83.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Alerus Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $56,672,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alerus Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,101,000 after purchasing an additional 16,779 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 6.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,027,000 after purchasing an additional 56,763 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 516,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,632,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares in the last quarter. 51.25% of the stock is 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.