Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Decreases Holdings in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 167,400 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 7,650 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $1,117,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $285,811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,573 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 26.5% in the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 1,624,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,880,000 after buying an additional 340,000 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Hecla Mining in the second quarter worth $6,280,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Hecla Mining by 261.2% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 141,600 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 102,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 4.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,559 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a 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 on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. TD Securities reduced their price target on Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. National Bank Financial cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

Hecla Mining stock opened at $5.52 on Monday. Hecla Mining has a 1-year low of $3.33 and a 1-year high of $7.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $6.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $245.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $232.03 million. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 2.27% and a positive return on equity of 0.75%. Hecla Mining’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -125.00%.

Insider Activity

In other Hecla Mining 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 transaction of $735,303.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,700 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,949. The trade was a 38.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 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.