Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 12,817,430 Shares of Hecla Mining Company $HL

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 25.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,064,065 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 12,817,430 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.06% of Hecla Mining worth $711,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HL. Veracity Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 11,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 31,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,786 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HL shares. HC Wainwright decreased their target price on Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Roth Mkm set a $13.00 target price on Hecla Mining in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.79.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

HL opened at $15.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.33 and a beta of 1.25. Hecla Mining Company has a 52-week low of $5.47 and a 52-week high of $34.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 4.53 and a current ratio of 4.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $17.95 and its 200-day moving average is $20.03.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $411.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.63 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 17.41%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is 2.44%.

Hecla Mining Profile

Hecla Mining Company, founded in 1891 and headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is one of the oldest publicly traded precious metals companies in the United States. Originally established to develop the rich silver deposits of the Coeur d’Alene district, Hecla has evolved into a diversified mining enterprise focused on the exploration, development and production of silver and gold, with by-product credits from lead and zinc.

The company’s principal operations are located in North America and Latin America.