State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Grows Holdings in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 368,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,883 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned about 0.06% of Hecla Mining worth $1,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Hecla Mining by 4.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,559 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in Hecla Mining during the third quarter worth $14,623,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 51.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,435,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,258,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,991 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 43.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,481,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,223,000 after buying an additional 1,059,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 5.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,865,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,499,000 after buying an additional 711,676 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on HL shares. Roth Mkm lowered their price target on Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 price target on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Friday, February 14th. National Bank Financial lowered Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, TD Securities lowered their target price on Hecla Mining from $7.00 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.00.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Hecla Mining stock opened at $5.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $3.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 104.32 and a beta of 1.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $5.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.88. Hecla Mining has a 52 week low of $3.41 and a 52 week high of $7.68.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $249.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.21 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 3.85%. Equities research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

Insider Transactions at Hecla Mining

In related news, CEO Robert Krcmarov purchased 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $5.29 per share, for a total transaction of $34,755.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 331,856 shares in the company, valued at $1,755,518.24. This trade represents a 2.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Hecla Mining

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.