Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) Short Interest Down 5.8% in March

Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 399,500 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the March 15th total of 424,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 41,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 9.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alerus Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alerus Financial by 34.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,368,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,601,000 after buying an additional 350,976 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alerus Financial by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 898,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,110,000 after purchasing an additional 36,968 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alerus Financial by 16.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 352,366 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,336,000 after purchasing an additional 50,107 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Alerus Financial by 1.7% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 326,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,932,000 after purchasing an additional 5,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Alerus Financial by 6.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 325,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,916,000 after purchasing an additional 19,529 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ALRS shares. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alerus Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 20th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Alerus Financial from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, TheStreet downgraded Alerus Financial from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th.

Alerus Financial Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Alerus Financial stock opened at $19.95 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.45. Alerus Financial has a 1 year low of $13.11 and a 1 year high of $25.85. The company has a market capitalization of $393.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.00 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). Alerus Financial had a return on equity of 8.69% and a net margin of 4.34%. The firm had revenue of $46.99 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.00 million. Research analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Alerus Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 133.33%.

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.