Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Stock Price Up 7.7% – Still a Buy?

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) shares rose 7.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $17.28 and last traded at $17.0760. Approximately 8,513,229 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average daily volume of 21,507,719 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on HL. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Hecla Mining from $12.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Monday, December 1st. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $15.00 to $16.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Roth Capital set a $8.75 price target on Hecla Mining and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $15.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.22.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.75 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.66. 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 (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $409.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $315.60 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.35%.Hecla Mining’s quarterly revenue was up 67.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 14,472 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $163,388.88. Following the sale, the vice president owned 73,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $826,428. The trade was a 16.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 148,372 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $2,225,580.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 347,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,211,030. The trade was a 29.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 181,379 shares of company stock valued at $2,667,365. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HL. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 32.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,881,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $603,566,000 after buying an additional 12,197,740 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,349,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $863,324,000 after purchasing an additional 8,452,401 shares in the last quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter valued at about $41,360,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 38.0% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,524,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,651,000 after buying an additional 6,472,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Hecla Mining by 577.8% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,808,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,386,000 after acquiring an additional 5,804,298 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.