Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $207,000 Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 42,141 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 771.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 4,438 shares during the period. Ameliora Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Hecla Mining in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 30.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,351 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 16,333 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total transaction of $84,604.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 297,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,543,551.94. This trade represents a 5.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert Krcmarov purchased 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $5.29 per share, for a total transaction of $34,755.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 331,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,755,518.24. This represents a 2.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 57,915 shares of company stock valued at $300,000. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $6.50 to $5.50 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.75.

Hecla Mining Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of HL stock opened at $5.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.55. Hecla Mining has a one year low of $4.41 and a one year high of $7.68. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $5.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.84. The company has a market capitalization of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 117.92 and a beta of 1.94.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 3.85%. The business had revenue of $249.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $229.21 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.00%.

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.