Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Lifted to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on HL. National Bank Financial restated an outperform market weight rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Hecla Mining from $4.60 to $6.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $6.68.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $5.42 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.29. Hecla Mining has a one year low of $3.33 and a one year high of $7.00.

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

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were given a $0.006 dividend. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is -20.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,567,847 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $225,090,000 after acquiring an additional 487,299 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Hecla Mining by 53.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 566,574 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after buying an additional 198,254 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Hecla Mining by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,928,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,182,000 after buying an additional 69,308 shares in the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association acquired a new position in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at about $156,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in Hecla Mining by 225.3% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 418,270 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after buying an additional 289,703 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.