Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.25.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

NYSE:HL opened at $5.43 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -135.63 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.86. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $3.40 and a 12-month high of $7.68.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $249.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $229.21 million. Hecla Mining had a positive return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 2.27%. Research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The business 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 0.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is currently -125.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hecla Mining

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,393,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,440,000 after purchasing an additional 774,000 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 4.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238,559 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,885,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,999,000 after buying an additional 7,960,826 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,904,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,289,000 after buying an additional 39,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,220,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,453,000 after buying an additional 502,094 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.