Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Separately, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (up from $27.00) on shares of Alliance Resource Partners in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th.

Alliance Resource Partners Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ARLP opened at $27.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.54. Alliance Resource Partners has a 1-year low of $21.55 and a 1-year high of $30.56. The stock has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.89 and a beta of 0.62.

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 3rd. The energy company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.38). Alliance Resource Partners had a return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 14.74%. Equities analysts forecast that Alliance Resource Partners will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alliance Resource Partners Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 8th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.25%. Alliance Resource Partners’s payout ratio is currently 101.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alliance Resource Partners news, SVP Timothy J. Whelan sold 50,000 shares of Alliance Resource Partners stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.13, for a total value of $1,256,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 93,850 shares in the company, valued at $2,358,450.50. This trade represents a 34.76 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 16.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alliance Resource Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 34,283 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 17,647 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC now owns 23,816 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $626,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. BCS Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 19,971 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtus ETF Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 7,278 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $191,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 18.11% of the company’s stock.

About Alliance Resource Partners

Alliance Resource Partners, L.P., a diversified natural resource company, produces and markets coal primarily to utilities and industrial users in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Illinois Basin Coal Operations, Appalachia Coal Operations, Oil & Gas Royalties, and Coal Royalties.