Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Takes $2.37 Million Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 355,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,373,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans owned 0.06% of Hecla Mining at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 4.3% during the 3rd 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 0.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 34,644,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,027,000 after buying an additional 146,689 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 17.0% in the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,219,231 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,863,000 after buying an additional 1,196,515 shares in the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter worth $19,714,000. Finally, Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,098,486 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,028,000 after acquiring an additional 27,938 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on HL. Roth Mkm dropped their price objective on Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research 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, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $10.25 price target on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $7.94.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In related news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the company’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 sale, the vice president now owns 173,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,175,949. This represents a 38.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

HL opened at $5.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.09. Hecla Mining has a 52-week low of $3.33 and a 52-week high of $7.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -138.75 and a beta of 2.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.89.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a positive return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 2.27%. The company had revenue of $245.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.03 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. Hecla Mining’s revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.0138 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.