GeoSphere Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 31,951 Hecla Mining Company $HL

GeoSphere Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 31,951 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $613,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Veracity Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 11,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 31,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,786 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 11,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,905 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm set a $13.00 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.25.

Hecla Mining Stock Down 0.1%

Hecla Mining stock opened at $16.97 on Monday. Hecla Mining Company has a fifty-two week low of $5.00 and a fifty-two week high of $34.17. The stock has a market cap of $11.38 billion, a PE ratio of 41.39 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 4.53 and a current ratio of 4.94.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.03). Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 17.41%.The firm had revenue of $411.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $407.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.0038 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is 2.44%.

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.