Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) Hits New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:ARLP) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $28.99 and last traded at $28.89, with a volume of 28597 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $28.60.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on ARLP shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alliance Resource Partners in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Alliance Resource Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alliance Resource Partners from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Alliance Resource Partners from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alliance Resource Partners has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

Alliance Resource Partners Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a PE ratio of 12.08 and a beta of 0.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $26.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.83.

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 2nd. The energy company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $535.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $556.82 million. Alliance Resource Partners had a return on equity of 18.41% and a net margin of 14.18%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Alliance Resource Partners Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 6th. Alliance Resource Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of Alliance Resource Partners

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Alliance Resource Partners by 95.4% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,363,174 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $78,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,641,741 shares during the last quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Progeny 3 Inc. now owns 3,282,671 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $76,256,000 after buying an additional 8,290 shares in the last quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 0.8% during the third quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,117,392 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $53,538,000 after buying an additional 17,603 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV raised its position in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 76.7% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 668,000 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $15,518,000 after buying an additional 289,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 3.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 657,191 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $16,617,000 after buying an additional 21,116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 18.11% of the company’s stock.

Alliance Resource Partners Company Profile

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ: ARLP) is a Tulsa, Oklahoma–based master limited partnership engaged in the production, marketing and transportation of bituminous coal. Through its subsidiaries, the company develops, owns and operates surface and underground coal mines, providing fuel primarily for electric power generation and various industrial applications. Alliance’s integrated business model covers the extraction of raw coal, processing at preparation plants and delivery to domestic and export customers.

The partnership operates multiple mining complexes across Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.