Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report report published on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

HL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock. Roth Capital set a $8.75 target price on shares of Hecla Mining and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, November 2nd. CIBC lifted their price objective on Hecla Mining from $15.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.22.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE HL traded up $0.27 during trading on Monday, reaching $24.58. The company had a trading volume of 8,296,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,021,066. The stock has a market cap of $16.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.02 and a beta of 1.28. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $17.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.51, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $4.46 and a 12 month high of $25.48.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.35%.The company had revenue of $409.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 67.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a $0.0038 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 24th. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3.23%.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In related news, VP Kurt Allen sold 52,219 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.91, for a total transaction of $1,144,118.29. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 216,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,746,604.31. This represents a 19.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 18,535 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $278,395.70. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 426,679 shares of company stock valued at $7,678,773 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 32.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,881,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $603,566,000 after buying an additional 12,197,740 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,349,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $863,324,000 after acquiring an additional 8,452,401 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,524,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $284,651,000 after purchasing an additional 6,472,566 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 577.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,808,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,386,000 after purchasing an additional 5,804,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,485,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $417,278,000 after purchasing an additional 4,453,706 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Company Profile

Hecla Mining Company, founded in 1891 and headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is one of the oldest publicly traded precious metals companies in the United States. Originally established to develop the rich silver deposits of the Coeur d’Alene district, Hecla has evolved into a diversified mining enterprise focused on the exploration, development and production of silver and gold, with by-product credits from lead and zinc.

The company’s principal operations are located in North America and Latin America.