CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC Acquires Shares of 11,371 Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 11,371 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in Hecla Mining by 122.5% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 29,333 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $143,000 after purchasing an additional 16,148 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $196,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 83,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 11,665 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter worth $7,855,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,189,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,570,000 after purchasing an additional 707,712 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other news, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 32,387 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total transaction of $167,764.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 246,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,276,559.20. This trade represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert Krcmarov acquired 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.29 per share, for a total transaction of $34,755.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 331,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,518.24. The trade was a 2.02 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 57,915 shares of company stock valued at $300,000. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $4.71 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $5.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $4.41 and a 12-month high of $7.68. The company has a market cap of $2.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.12 and a beta of 1.77.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 3.85%. The firm had revenue of $249.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $229.21 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.0038 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on HL. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Friday, February 14th. TD Securities lowered shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $6.50 to $5.50 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.75.

Hecla Mining Company Profile

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.