Wall Street Zen Downgrades Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) to Hold

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Hovde Group downgraded Alerus Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Alerus Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial set a $29.00 price objective on Alerus Financial and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.00.

Alerus Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ALRS opened at $23.88 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $24.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.83. Alerus Financial has a 12 month low of $15.78 and a 12 month high of $26.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $606.58 million, a P/E ratio of 36.18 and a beta of 0.63.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $77.07 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $71.43 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 4.36% and a return on equity of 13.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alerus Financial by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,101,000 after acquiring an additional 16,779 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 830,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,692,000 after purchasing an additional 33,359 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,403 shares during the last quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 516,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,632,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 476,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,819,000 after purchasing an additional 4,284 shares during the period. 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.