ProShare Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 81,905 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 27,959 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $397,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 2.4% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 190,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $924,000 after acquiring an additional 4,514 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 2nd quarter valued at $141,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 26.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,624,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,880,000 after purchasing an additional 340,000 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 44,553 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $216,000 after purchasing an additional 3,386 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $168,027,000 after buying an additional 146,689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Roth Mkm cut their price objective 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.56.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:HL opened at $6.54 on Wednesday. Hecla Mining has a one year low of $3.33 and a one year high of $7.40. 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 $4.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.57 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $5.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.51.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $245.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $208.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th were paid a $0.0138 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -33.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hecla Mining

In other news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,175,949. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.