Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

Alerus Financial Co. (NASDAQ:ALRS) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of 0.20 per share on Friday, January 17th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th.

Alerus Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Alerus Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 37.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Alerus Financial to earn $1.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.4%.

Alerus Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ALRS opened at $19.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $499.16 million, a PE ratio of 123.13 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Alerus Financial has a 52-week low of $18.09 and a 52-week high of $25.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $22.02 and a 200 day moving average of $21.40.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ALRS. Raymond James upgraded shares of Alerus Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Alerus Financial from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Alerus Financial from $24.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.20.

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.