Hecla Mining Company $HL Stake Boosted by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 49.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 268,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 89,164 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $3,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of HL. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $102,144,000 after purchasing an additional 4,928,130 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 14.7% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,118,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,509,000 after purchasing an additional 2,574,855 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 565.9% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,431,420 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,066,310 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 30,032,111 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,892,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029,327 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 73.4% in the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 3,493,325 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,925,000 after buying an additional 1,479,049 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of HL stock opened at $22.74 on Friday. Hecla Mining Company has a 12 month low of $4.46 and a 12 month high of $34.17. The company has a market capitalization of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.35 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $21.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.35%.The business had revenue of $409.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. Hecla Mining’s revenue was up 67.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on HL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $26.50 target price on Hecla Mining in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Roth Mkm reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $16.50 to $36.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hecla Mining

In related news, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 18,535 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.02, for a total value of $278,395.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David C. Sienko sold 207,553 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.42, for a total transaction of $4,030,679.26. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 906,370 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,601,705.40. This represents a 18.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 426,679 shares of company stock valued at $7,678,773 in the last 90 days. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Hecla Mining

Hecla Mining Company, founded in 1891 and headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is one of the oldest publicly traded precious metals companies in the United States. Originally established to develop the rich silver deposits of the Coeur d’Alene district, Hecla has evolved into a diversified mining enterprise focused on the exploration, development and production of silver and gold, with by-product credits from lead and zinc.

The company’s principal operations are located in North America and Latin America.