Hecla Mining Company $HL Position Lessened by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,174,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 113,233 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $59,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HL. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $319,000,000 after buying an additional 1,770,949 shares in the last quarter. U S Global Investors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the first quarter worth approximately $1,397,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter valued at $88,417,000. Sigma Planning Corp lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 395.4% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 107,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,998,000 after buying an additional 85,583 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,433,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

Shares of HL opened at $15.12 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.91 and a 200-day moving average of $19.48. The company has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a PE ratio of 36.87 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 4.94 and a quick ratio of 4.53. Hecla Mining Company has a one year low of $5.62 and a one year high of $34.17.

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

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.0038 per share. 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 2.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HL shares. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Zacks Research raised Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.12.

Hecla Mining 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.