Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Releases Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.28 EPS

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.28, FiscalAI reports. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 13.45% and a return on equity of 11.63%. The company had revenue of $77.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.43 million.

Alerus Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALRS traded down $0.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $23.80. 190,359 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 147,168. 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 company has a market cap of $604.45 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.44 and a beta of 0.66. Alerus Financial has a 1 year low of $15.78 and a 1 year high of $25.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $22.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.19.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 26th. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alerus Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. XTX Topco Ltd grew its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 23.0% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the company’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 4,489 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Alerus Financial by 140.8% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 110,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,439,000 after purchasing an additional 64,425 shares during the last quarter. Numerai GP LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alerus Financial in the third quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Mariner LLC raised its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 29,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,939 shares in the last quarter. 51.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on ALRS. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $25.00 to $27.00 in a report on Monday, January 5th. Hovde Group downgraded Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Alerus Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Alerus Financial Company Profile

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.