Wall Street Zen Upgrades Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) to Buy

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ALRS. Raymond James Financial set a $29.00 price target on Alerus Financial and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Alerus Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $28.38.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ALRS opened at $28.58 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $25.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.25. Alerus Financial has a 1 year low of $20.26 and a 1 year high of $29.00. The company has a market capitalization of $718.22 million, a P/E ratio of 27.75 and a beta of 0.67.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last posted its quarterly 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 analyst estimates of $73.78 million. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 6.74%. On average, analysts expect that Alerus Financial will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in Alerus Financial during the first quarter worth about $1,951,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Alerus Financial by 60.4% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 92,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,187,000 after purchasing an additional 34,754 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alerus Financial by 0.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 81,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,925,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alerus Financial during the first quarter worth about $90,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Alerus Financial by 6.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,027,000 after purchasing an additional 56,763 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

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.