StockNews.com Lowers Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) to Sell

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

HL has been the topic of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.56.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Hecla Mining stock opened at $6.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of -45.20 and a beta of 2.01. Hecla Mining has a 52-week low of $3.33 and a 52-week high of $7.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company’s 50 day moving average is $6.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.67.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 5.56% and a negative return on equity of 0.42%. The company had revenue of $245.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total transaction of $735,303.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 173,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,949. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,762,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,477,000 after purchasing an additional 103,136 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,913,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $278,564,000 after purchasing an additional 345,694 shares during the period. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the first quarter valued at about $487,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 6.8% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 60,513,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,827,580 shares during the period. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the first quarter valued at about $84,000. 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.