State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Lowers Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D cut its stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 322,890 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 464,713 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned 0.05% of Hecla Mining worth $1,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $248,000. Choreo LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining in the second quarter valued at $78,000. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter worth about $54,000. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the second quarter valued at about $568,000. Finally, Oxbow Advisors LLC bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the second quarter worth about $90,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions 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 stock was 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 $1,175,949. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on HL. Roth Mkm dropped their price target on Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.56.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HL opened at $7.08 on Thursday. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $3.33 and a 12-month high of $7.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of -47.17 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $208.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 26th were given a $0.0138 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 26th. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Hecla Mining’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is -33.33%.

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.