Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Sell-Side Analysts

Shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.34.

HL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, August 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research upgraded Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $24.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 16th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Hecla Mining during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,085,779,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 38,174,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $589,027,000 after purchasing an additional 5,053,624 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 86.7% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,715,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $244,003,000 after buying an additional 5,906,313 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,689,144 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $87,359,000 after acquiring an additional 112,962 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Hecla Mining in the 1st quarter worth approximately $72,659,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 1.4%

HL stock opened at $16.84 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $18.65 and its 200 day moving average is $17.55. The stock has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.36 and a beta of 1.37. Hecla Mining has a 1-year low of $11.81 and a 1-year high of $34.17.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $333.85 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.75 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 18.91% and a net margin of 20.84%. The company’s revenue was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 26th were issued a $0.0037 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 26th. This represents a $0.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.04%.

About Hecla Mining

Hecla Mining Company is a precious and base metals producer founded in 1891 and headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The company explores for, develops, and operates mines that produce silver, gold, lead, and zinc. Its silver production serves industrial, investment, and other markets, while gold and base metals contribute to its broader mining portfolio.

Hecla’s operating assets have included the Greens Creek mine in southeast Alaska, the Lucky Friday mine in Idaho, the Casa Berardi mine in Quebec, and the Keno Hill silver district in Yukon, Canada.