JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Holdings in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,481,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,059,929 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.55% of Hecla Mining worth $23,223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in HL. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in Hecla Mining by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 81,580 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 9,307 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Hecla Mining by 1.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 985,006 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,777,000 after acquiring an additional 10,513 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 3.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 166,255 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $806,000 after acquiring an additional 4,846 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining during the second quarter valued at about $539,000. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the second quarter worth about $568,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

HL opened at $5.33 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -133.25 and a beta of 1.91. Hecla Mining has a 1 year low of $3.33 and a 1 year high of $7.68.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a positive return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 2.27%. The firm had revenue of $245.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.0138 dividend. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is -125.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HL has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.94.

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.