Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Upgraded to "Moderate Buy" at Raymond James Financial

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial upgraded Alerus Financial to a “moderate buy,” adding to a generally positive analyst backdrop. MarketBeat’s data shows a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with a consensus price target of $30.50.
• Alerus Financial reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $0.89 EPS versus the $0.58 estimate and revenue of $75.78 million versus $73.78 million expected. Analysts currently forecast $3.02 EPS for the full year.
• The stock has been trading near its highs, opening at $30.87 and sitting close to its 52-week high of $31.85. The company also has relatively low leverage, with a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James Financial to a "moderate buy" rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

ALRS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Alerus Financial from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Zacks Research upgraded Alerus Financial from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Alerus Financial from $28.50 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alerus Financial from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $30.50.

Alerus Financial Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ ALRS opened at $30.87 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $775.76 million, a P/E ratio of 29.97 and a beta of 0.68. Alerus Financial has a 1 year low of $20.26 and a 1 year high of $31.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.89.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.31. Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 6.74%.The business had revenue of $75.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.78 million. Research analysts anticipate that Alerus Financial will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Alerus Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,027,000 after purchasing an additional 56,763 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 4.0% in the 4th 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 period. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alerus Financial by 0.5% in the 4th 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 boosted its stake 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 valued at $10,819,000 after purchasing an additional 4,284 shares in the last quarter. 51.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Alerus Financial

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.

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