Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) Earns Strong-Buy Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage issued a strong-buy rating on the energy company’s stock.

ARLP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Noble Financial assumed coverage on Alliance Resource Partners in a research report on Wednesday, February 1st. They set a buy rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. Benchmark reissued a buy rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Alliance Resource Partners in a research report on Tuesday, January 31st.

Alliance Resource Partners Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARLP opened at $18.86 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.26 and a current ratio of 2.56. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.17. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.30 and a beta of 1.36. Alliance Resource Partners has a 52-week low of $14.10 and a 52-week high of $27.63.

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 30th. The energy company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $700.73 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $698.50 million. Alliance Resource Partners had a return on equity of 40.54% and a net margin of 23.99%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alliance Resource Partners will post 6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliance Resource Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 6th. This is a boost from Alliance Resource Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Alliance Resource Partners’s payout ratio is currently 63.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alliance Resource Partners

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 71.9% in the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 3,048 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $70,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 13.4% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 5,069 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $134,000.

About Alliance Resource Partners

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Alliance Resource Partners LP is a natural resource company, which produces and markets coal to United States utilities and industrial users. It operates through the following segments: Illinois Basin, Appalachia, Minerals, and Other & Corporate. The Illinois Basin segment is comprised of Webster County coal’s Dotiki mining complex, Gibson mining complex, which includes the Gibson north mine and the Gibson south project, Hopkins County coal’s Elk Creek mining complex, White County coal’s Pattiki mining complex, Warrior’s mining complex, River View’s mining complex, the Sebree property and certain properties of Alliance Resource Properties and ARP Sebree LLC.