Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Reduces Stock Position in Hecla Mining Company $HL

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP trimmed its stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 27.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,608,301 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,656,969 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $234,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 64.5% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 1,298 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,326,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,705,000 after purchasing an additional 5,100 shares in the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 34,636 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Hecla Mining during the first quarter worth $24,028,000. Finally, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Hecla Mining during the first quarter worth $162,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on HL shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Hecla Mining from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.12.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

NYSE HL opened at $15.30 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.53, a current ratio of 4.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Hecla Mining Company has a fifty-two week low of $5.62 and a fifty-two week high of $34.17. The business has a fifty day moving average of $15.96 and a 200-day moving average of $19.51. The stock has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.32 and a beta of 1.29.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 57.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is 2.44%.

Hecla Mining Company 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.