Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) Stock

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) had its target price hoisted by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $22.00 to $23.00 in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target points to a potential upside of 5.17% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on ALRS. Raymond James raised Alerus Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alerus Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.20.

Alerus Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ALRS opened at $21.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.20. Alerus Financial has a 52 week low of $18.09 and a 52 week high of $25.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $554.19 million, a PE ratio of 136.45 and a beta of 0.69.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.18). Alerus Financial had a net margin of 1.01% and a return on equity of 6.02%. The company had revenue of $80.58 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.30 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alerus Financial will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alerus Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALRS. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alerus Financial by 380.7% during the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $142,000. Harbor Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $226,000. Bailard Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $265,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the third quarter worth approximately $417,000. Institutional investors own 51.25% of the company’s stock.

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.