Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 5,053,624 Shares of Hecla Mining Company $HL

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 15.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,174,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 5,053,624 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.06% of Hecla Mining worth $589,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 74.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its position in Hecla Mining by 93.5% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 134.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 957 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 4.6%

HL opened at $20.45 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.73 and a beta of 1.32. Hecla Mining Company has a 12 month low of $8.07 and a 12 month high of $34.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.22.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The basic materials company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a net margin of 20.84% and a return on equity of 18.91%. The company had revenue of $333.85 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $368.75 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.09 EPS. Hecla Mining’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.46 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 26th will be issued a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.01 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 26th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 2.04%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on HL shares. Scotiabank cut their price target on Hecla Mining from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. HC Wainwright cut their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.82.

Hecla Mining 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.