Michael L. Clary Sells 32,387 Shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Stock

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) CAO Michael L. Clary sold 32,387 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total value of $167,764.66. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 246,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,559.20. This trade represents a 11.62 % 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 this link.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:HL opened at $5.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 101.72 and a beta of 1.91. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $3.41 and a 12 month high of $7.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $249.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $229.21 million. Hecla Mining had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 3.10%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is 20.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on HL shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 price target on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. TD Securities reduced their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 21st. National Bank Financial cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm reduced their target price on Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hecla Mining

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,393,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,440,000 after purchasing an additional 774,000 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,510,000 after buying an additional 2,238,559 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 100.5% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,885,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $77,999,000 after buying an additional 7,960,826 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,904,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,289,000 after buying an additional 39,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,220,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,453,000 after acquiring an additional 502,094 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.