First Eagle Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 26.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,624,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 340,000 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.26% of Hecla Mining worth $7,880,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of HL. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 313.6% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 6,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 4,967 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the second quarter worth about $41,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining in the second quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Oak Family Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Hecla Mining by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 2,916 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Hecla Mining news, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 30,634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,728,182.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 30,634 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction of $150,412.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 351,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,728,182.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,038 shares of company stock worth $1,007,445 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on HL shares. Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $10.25 price target on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Hecla Mining currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.56.

Hecla Mining Stock Up 2.2 %

HL stock opened at $6.68 on Friday. Hecla Mining has a one year low of $3.33 and a one year high of $6.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.78 and its 200 day moving average is $5.33. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of -44.27 and a beta of 2.00.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $245.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.80 million. Hecla Mining had a negative return on equity of 0.42% and a negative net margin of 5.56%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.04 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is presently -33.33%.

Hecla Mining 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.