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

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $24.42 and last traded at $23.9560, with a volume of 12659 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALRS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Alerus Financial in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Alerus Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 21st. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Alerus Financial from $25.50 to $24.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $25.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alerus Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.00.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $613.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.62 and a beta of 0.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $22.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

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

Alerus Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,696 shares of the company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 83.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 73,019 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,617,000 after purchasing an additional 33,205 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alerus Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its stake in Alerus Financial by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 23,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 4,489 shares during the period. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew 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 valued at $2,439,000 after buying an additional 64,425 shares in the last quarter. 51.25% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.