Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

Several other brokerages have also commented on HL. Roth Mkm cut their price objective on Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.56.

Hecla Mining Stock Up 9.3 %

HL stock opened at $7.31 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of -48.73 and a beta of 2.01. Hecla Mining has a twelve month low of $3.33 and a twelve month high of $7.40. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.70.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a negative return on equity of 0.42% and a negative net margin of 5.56%. The company had revenue of $245.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This is a positive change from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total value of $735,303.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,175,949. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 60,513,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,070,000 after acquiring an additional 3,827,580 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,420,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,573 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 34,644,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $168,027,000 after acquiring an additional 146,689 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,576,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,219,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,515 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Hecla Mining

Hecla Mining Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides precious and base metal properties in the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and China. The company mines for silver, gold, lead, and zinc concentrates, as well as carbon material containing silver and gold for custom smelters, metal traders, and third-party processors; and doré containing silver and gold.