By Lars Charter

September 3, 2018 - Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday, August 6th. The firm presently has a $23.00 price objective on the energy company’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 14.43% from the stock’s previous close.

According to Zacks, “ALLIANCE RESOURCES is a diversified producer and marketer of coal to major U.S. utilities and industrial users. They currently operate mining complexes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Maryland. Some of their mining complexes are underground and one has both surface and underground mines. They produce a diverse range of steam coals with varying sulfur and heat contents, which enable them to satisfy the broad range of specifications demanded by their customers. “

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. MKM Partners raised Alliance Resource Partners from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 1st. Seaport Global Securities set a $20.00 target price on Alliance Resource Partners and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 23rd. ValuEngine raised Alliance Resource Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 31st. Finally, BidaskClub raised Alliance Resource Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $24.50.

NASDAQ:ARLP traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $20.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 273,443 shares, compared to its average volume of 391,060. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.15. Alliance Resource Partners has a 52-week low of $15.55 and a 52-week high of $21.90.

Alliance Resource Partners (NASDAQ:ARLP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 30th. The energy company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.64. The company had revenue of $516.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $491.55 million. Alliance Resource Partners had a return on equity of 24.78% and a net margin of 19.77%. Alliance Resource Partners’s revenue was up 29.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. analysts predict that Alliance Resource Partners will post 2.71 EPS for the current year.

Alliance Resource Partners announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Thursday, May 31st that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the energy company to buy up to 3.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

In related news, Director Nick Carter acquired 2,219 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $19.85 per share, with a total value of $44,047.15. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $397,000. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC. 44.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tiedemann Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 66.5% during the second quarter. Tiedemann Advisors LLC now owns 230,152 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $4,224,000 after acquiring an additional 91,905 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 92.9% during the second quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,085,152 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $38,263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,004,474 shares during the last quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners during the second quarter valued at $574,000. OppenheimerFunds Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners during the second quarter valued at $7,584,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alliance Resource Partners by 124.8% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 348,259 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $6,391,000 after acquiring an additional 193,365 shares during the last quarter. 28.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.