Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 334,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,640,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of Hecla Mining as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in HL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 0.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $35,453,000 after buying an additional 502,094 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 20.3% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,189,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,570,000 after acquiring an additional 707,712 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 30.5% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 3,788,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,600,000 after acquiring an additional 885,900 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on HL. TD Securities cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $6.50 to $5.50 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. National Bank Financial raised Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hecla Mining currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.75.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 17.0 %

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $4.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 90.82 and a beta of 1.77. Hecla Mining has a 1-year low of $4.41 and a 1-year high of $7.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.64.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. 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 net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $261.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.50 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.01) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be issued a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is 20.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hecla Mining news, CEO Robert Krcmarov bought 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.29 per share, with a total value of $34,755.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 331,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,518.24. This trade represents a 2.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kurt Allen sold 9,195 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total transaction of $47,630.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 104,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $541,372.16. The trade was a 8.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 57,915 shares of company stock worth $300,000. Company insiders own 1.40% 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.