Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) gapped down before the market opened on Monday after National Bank Financial downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $5.73, but opened at $5.44. Hecla Mining shares last traded at $5.41, with a volume of 2,852,035 shares.

HL has been the topic of several other reports. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price target on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Roth Mkm dropped 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. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.94.

Insider Transactions at Hecla Mining

In related news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,949. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,506,573 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $727,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 148.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 39,208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 23,457 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 26.5% during the second 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Hecla Mining in the second quarter worth $6,280,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 2.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -136.50 and a beta of 2.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.85. 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 (NYSE:HL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 2.27% and a positive return on equity of 0.76%. The business had revenue of $245.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $232.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.01) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.07 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.0138 dividend. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is presently -125.00%.

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.