Arizona State Retirement System Reduces Stake in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 163,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,766 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $789,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HL. Quilter Plc purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the first quarter valued at $5,183,460,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the first quarter valued at $48,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 104.3% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 4,932 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the second quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter worth about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

HL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Hecla Mining from $4.60 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. National Bank Financial reiterated an “outperform market weight” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hecla Mining to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.68.

Hecla Mining Stock Up 0.4 %

HL opened at $5.28 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.20 and a beta of 2.20. The business has a 50-day moving average of $4.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.32. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $3.33 and a 12 month high of $6.66.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $160.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.51 million. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 11.69% and a negative return on equity of 0.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.02 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid a $0.006 dividend. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -13.33%.

Hecla Mining 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.