Lesa Sroufe & Co Purchases Shares of 455,691 Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Lesa Sroufe & Co purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 455,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,534,000. Hecla Mining comprises 2.5% of Lesa Sroufe & Co’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 2,169 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 173,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 2,297 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 25,370 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 2,457 shares during the period. Oxbow Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Oxbow Advisors LLC now owns 22,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $109,000 after buying an additional 3,548 shares during the period. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 9.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 42,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 3,845 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on HL. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Roth Mkm reduced their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, National Bankshares set a $7.00 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.10.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE HL opened at $5.93 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.08. Hecla Mining has a 52-week low of $4.41 and a 52-week high of $7.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.46. The stock has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.62 and a beta of 1.44.

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

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.66, for a total transaction of $126,047.16. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 59,410 shares in the company, valued at approximately $395,670.60. This represents a 24.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Catherine J. Boggs bought 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.99 per share, with a total value of $99,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 348,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,737,363.31. The trade was a 6.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.