Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires 1,858,271 Shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 1,331.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,997,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,858,271 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned 0.32% of Hecla Mining worth $9,809,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in HL. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Hecla Mining by 771.8% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 4,438 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Hecla Mining by 30.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,961 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on HL. National Bank Financial raised shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. TD Securities dropped their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $5.50 price objective (down from $7.50) on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.20.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 4.9%

HL stock opened at $5.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.55. Hecla Mining has a 52 week low of $4.41 and a 52 week high of $7.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a PE ratio of 103.22 and a beta of 1.57.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The business had revenue of $261.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 37.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.0038 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.29%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.09%.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other news, Director Catherine J. Boggs acquired 20,000 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.99 per share, for a total transaction of $99,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 348,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,363.31. This represents a 6.09% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Krcmarov acquired 6,570 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.29 per share, for a total transaction of $34,755.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,518.24. This represents a 2.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 57,915 shares of company stock worth $300,000. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.