Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Shares Gap Up to $4.90

Shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $4.90, but opened at $5.05. Hecla Mining shares last traded at $5.19, with a volume of 1,281,154 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Hecla Mining from $4.60 to $6.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.75 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Thursday, May 9th. National Bank Financial restated an “outperform market weight” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.89.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 5.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.71.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $189.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.31 million. Hecla Mining had a negative return on equity of 0.28% and a negative net margin of 12.22%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Friday, May 24th were paid a dividend of $0.006 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 23rd. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -20.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hecla Mining

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total value of $121,728.72. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 607,649 shares in the company, valued at $2,983,556.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Hecla Mining news, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction of $121,728.72. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 607,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,983,556.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 30,634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction of $150,412.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 351,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,728,182.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,105 shares of company stock worth $329,486 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,567,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $225,090,000 after purchasing an additional 487,299 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in Hecla Mining by 21.5% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 223,508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,075,000 after buying an additional 39,494 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,928,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,182,000 after acquiring an additional 69,308 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter valued at $13,761,000. Finally, SCP Investment LP increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. SCP Investment LP now owns 38,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $181,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.