Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Reaches New 1-Year 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 $24.43 and last traded at $24.2450, with a volume of 26976 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $24.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALRS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Hovde Group cut Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Alerus Financial from $25.50 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Alerus Financial in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Alerus Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Alerus Financial Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $613.66 million, a P/E ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.10.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $72.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.41 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 13.45% and a return on equity of 11.63%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 26th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is 40.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALRS. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alerus Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $1,195,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.2% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in Alerus Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $441,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alerus Financial by 41.1% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 73,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after buying an additional 21,331 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Alerus Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $201,000. 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.