Arizona State Retirement System Trims Stock Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 163,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,766 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HL. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the first quarter valued at approximately $111,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 39.8% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 998,615 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,561,000 after purchasing an additional 284,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 35.6% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 33,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 8,886 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 26.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 113,724 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $747,000 after acquiring an additional 23,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 5.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,408,881 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,535,000 after acquiring an additional 279,688 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:HL opened at $5.28 on Thursday. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $3.33 and a 12 month high of $6.66. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.20 and a beta of 2.20.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.02). Hecla Mining had a negative return on equity of 0.27% and a negative net margin of 11.69%. The business had revenue of $160.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.51 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.02 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a $0.006 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is -13.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on HL. National Bank Financial restated an “outperform market weight” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $4.60 to $6.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.68.

Hecla Mining Profile

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.