Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Sunday.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. CIBC lifted their target price on Hecla Mining from $12.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on Hecla Mining from $11.50 to $12.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $8.75 target price on Hecla Mining and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.75.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 6.1%

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $11.98 on Friday. Hecla Mining has a 52-week low of $4.46 and a 52-week high of $15.44. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.85 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a current ratio of 2.67.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $304.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $248.93 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 5.51% and a net margin of 9.55%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.02 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 14,472 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total transaction of $163,388.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 73,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $826,428. The trade was a 16.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HL. Pale Fire Capital SE purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining in the first quarter worth approximately $41,360,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 40.6% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 17,052,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $102,144,000 after buying an additional 4,928,130 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining in the first quarter worth approximately $18,410,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 7,588.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,189,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,593,000 after buying an additional 3,147,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 869.3% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 3,274,065 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $18,204,000 after buying an additional 2,936,288 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.