Ballentine Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 11,220 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 6.8% during the 1st 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. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,420,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,573 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 34,919,446 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $167,967,000 after purchasing an additional 168,185 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter valued at $42,576,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 17.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,219,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,863,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196,515 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In related news, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction of $121,728.72. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 607,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,983,556.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Hecla Mining news, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 30,634 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total value of $150,412.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 351,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,728,182.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total value of $121,728.72. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 607,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,983,556.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,105 shares of company stock worth $329,486 in the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

HL opened at $6.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.23. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $3.33 and a 12-month high of $6.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -42.97 and a beta of 2.00.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $245.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.80 million. Hecla Mining had a negative return on equity of 0.42% and a negative net margin of 5.56%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were issued a dividend of $0.0138 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. This is a boost from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $10.25 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Mkm decreased their target price on Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on Hecla Mining from $6.75 to $7.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.13.

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.