Piper Sandler Cuts Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Price Target to $24.00

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) had its price target reduced by Piper Sandler from $25.50 to $24.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price (up previously from $24.00) on shares of Alerus Financial in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Alerus Financial from $25.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Alerus Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised Alerus Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alerus Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, August 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alerus Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

Shares of ALRS opened at $21.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $534.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12 and a beta of 0.73. Alerus Financial has a 12 month low of $15.78 and a 12 month high of $24.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 13.45% and a return on equity of 11.84%. The firm had revenue of $72.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.41 million. Research analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Friday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 26th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is presently 40.38%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 1.0% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 59,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,103,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 112.1% during the 1st quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 285,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,333,000 after buying an additional 151,045 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 102.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 22,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 11,200 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alerus Financial by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,194,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,046,000 after buying an additional 139,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Alerus Financial by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 36,447 shares of the company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 3,232 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

About Alerus Financial

Alerus Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Alerus Financial, National Association that engages in the provision of various financial services to businesses and consumers. The company operates in four segments: Banking, Mortgage, Retirement and Benefit Services, and Wealth Management.