Encompass Capital Advisors LLC Takes $19.71 Million Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 4,064,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,714,000. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.65% of Hecla Mining at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of HL. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 6.8% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 60,513,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $291,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,827,580 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 2.6% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 34,644,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,027,000 after buying an additional 146,689 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,576,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 17.0% in 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 buying an additional 1,196,515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total value of $735,303.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,949. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Roth Mkm cut their price objective on Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price target on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.56.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

NYSE:HL opened at $7.08 on Thursday. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $3.33 and a 12 month high of $7.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -47.17 and a beta of 2.00. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $5.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.43.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $245.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This is an increase from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

About Hecla Mining

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.