Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $28.3750.

ALRS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th.

Alerus Financial Stock Up 0.7%

Alerus Financial stock opened at $29.30 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.64. The company has a market cap of $736.31 million, a PE ratio of 28.45 and a beta of 0.69. Alerus Financial has a fifty-two week low of $20.26 and a fifty-two week high of $29.61.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.31. The business 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alerus Financial will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Alerus Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is presently 81.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alerus Financial

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alerus Financial by 1.3% in 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Alerus Financial by 6.8% in the 1st 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alerus Financial by 4.0% in the 4th 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 period. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Alerus Financial by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 516,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,632,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alerus Financial by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 476,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,819,000 after purchasing an additional 4,284 shares during the period. 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.