Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) Short Interest Update

Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 286,600 shares, a drop of 55.4% from the September 30th total of 642,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 69,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.1 days.

Alerus Financial Trading Down 1.5 %

ALRS stock traded down $0.35 on Friday, reaching $23.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 54,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,890. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.85. Alerus Financial has a 12-month low of $17.07 and a 12-month high of $25.85. The firm has a market cap of $459.22 million, a PE ratio of 47.39 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.06). Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 2.39%. The business had revenue of $80.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. Alerus Financial’s payout ratio is 163.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alerus Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Alerus Financial by 380.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,203 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Alerus Financial by 4.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 123,512 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,422,000 after buying an additional 5,323 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Alerus Financial during the third quarter valued at $142,000. Sippican Capital Advisors lifted its position in Alerus Financial by 11.9% during the first quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 67,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after buying an additional 7,185 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Alerus Financial by 2.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 274,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,384,000 after buying an additional 7,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on ALRS. Raymond James upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Alerus Financial from $22.50 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Alerus Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Alerus Financial from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.40.

Alerus Financial Company Profile

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.