149,000 Shares in Hecla Mining Company $HL Bought by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 149,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,803,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of HL. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the second quarter worth about $25,000. USA Financial Formulas purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 255.6% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 4,425 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on HL shares. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $12.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 2nd. Roth Capital set a $8.75 price objective on Hecla Mining and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. CIBC upped their price objective on Hecla Mining from $15.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.22.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 148,372 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.00, for a total value of $2,225,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 347,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,211,030. This trade represents a 29.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David C. Sienko sold 207,553 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.42, for a total transaction of $4,030,679.26. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 906,370 shares in the company, valued at $17,601,705.40. This represents a 18.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 426,679 shares of company stock worth $7,678,773. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Down 0.7%

HL opened at $24.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a PE ratio of 78.39 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $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 Company has a 52 week low of $4.46 and a 52 week high of $25.48.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.35%.The firm had revenue of $409.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $315.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 67.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

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

About Hecla Mining

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.