Short Interest in Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) Decreases By 26.5%

Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 186,500 shares, a decrease of 26.5% from the November 15th total of 253,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 84,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,966,000. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 34.0% during the second quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 288,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,665,000 after buying an additional 73,342 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in Alerus Financial by 191.1% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 46,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $919,000 after buying an additional 30,750 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $530,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in Alerus Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $424,000. 51.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ALRS shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Alerus Financial from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised Alerus Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.20.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Alerus Financial stock opened at $22.04 on Friday. Alerus Financial has a 12 month low of $18.09 and a 12 month high of $25.85. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.30. The company has a market capitalization of $558.45 million, a PE ratio of 137.75 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.18). The business had revenue of $80.58 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.30 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 1.01% and a return on equity of 6.02%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is 500.00%.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Alerus Financial, National Association that engages in the provision of various financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefit Services, and Wealth Management.