Marshall Wace LLP Purchases New Shares in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,294,927 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,280,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. SCP Investment LP increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. SCP Investment LP now owns 38,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,761,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 82,825.0% in the fourth quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 23,191 shares in the last quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Fund Management S.A. now owns 1,202,485 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,784,000 after purchasing an additional 100,468 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sprott Inc. grew its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 2,664,692 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,817,000 after purchasing an additional 42,033 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hecla Mining

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total transaction of $735,303.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,700 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,949. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

NYSE:HL opened at $6.68 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.53 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 0.58. Hecla Mining has a 1-year low of $3.33 and a 1-year high of $7.40.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a negative return on equity of 0.42% and a negative net margin of 5.56%. The company had revenue of $245.66 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $208.80 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.05 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Investors of record on Monday, August 26th were given a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.82%. This is an increase from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -33.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on HL shares. Roth Mkm reduced their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.56.

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.