Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $29.30 and last traded at $29.2350, with a volume of 71740 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $28.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ALRS shares. Wall Street Zen raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Weiss Ratings raised Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alerus Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $28.38.

Alerus Financial Trading Up 0.8%

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 business’s 50 day moving average is $26.31 and its 200 day moving average is $24.50. The stock has a market cap of $727.51 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11 and a beta of 0.69.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $75.78 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.78 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 6.74% and a return on equity of 14.39%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alerus Financial will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 26th. This is an increase from Alerus Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 81.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ALRS. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alerus Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $1,195,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 4.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Alerus Financial in the first quarter valued at $441,000. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 29.7% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 28,720 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after acquiring an additional 6,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 3.4% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 32,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,072 shares in the last quarter. 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.