Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Trading 4.7% Higher – Still a Buy?

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)’s stock price was up 4.7% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $5.86 and last traded at $5.95. Approximately 7,444,591 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 14,754,380 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.68.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on HL shares. National Bank Financial downgraded Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price objective on Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -143.88 and a beta of 1.91. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $5.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.84.

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

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is -125.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hecla Mining

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of HL. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $391,510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,559 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the third quarter valued at about $14,623,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,435,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,258,000 after buying an additional 1,842,991 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 43.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,481,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,223,000 after buying an additional 1,059,929 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Hecla Mining by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,865,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $92,499,000 after buying an additional 711,676 shares during the period. 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.