M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Purchases New Position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter valued at about $19,714,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 4.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,510,000 after buying an additional 2,238,559 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the third quarter valued at approximately $14,623,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 51.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,435,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,258,000 after buying an additional 1,842,991 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Hecla Mining during the second quarter worth approximately $6,280,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial downgraded Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

NYSE:HL opened at $5.39 on Tuesday. Hecla Mining has a twelve month low of $3.33 and a twelve month high of $7.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a PE ratio of -134.68 and a beta of 1.91.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $245.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $232.03 million. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 2.27% and a positive return on equity of 0.75%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.01) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.0138 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is presently -125.00%.

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.