California Public Employees Retirement System Takes $24.03 Million Position in Hecla Mining Company $HL

California Public Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,289,745 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,028,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in HL. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Hecla Mining by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,620,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770,949 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,397,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $88,417,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,433,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 2,648.5% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 565,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,843,000 after purchasing an additional 544,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on HL. Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. HC Wainwright dropped their price target on Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on Hecla Mining from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.12.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 2.6%

NYSE HL opened at $15.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 38.28 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $16.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.54. The company has a current ratio of 4.94, a quick ratio of 4.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Hecla Mining Company has a 12 month low of $5.62 and a 12 month high of $34.17.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.03). Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 17.41%.The company had revenue of $411.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.63 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Hecla Mining’s revenue was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently 2.44%.

Hecla Mining Company Profile

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.