Eschler Asset Management LLP Buys New Holdings in Hecla Mining Company $HL

Eschler Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 250,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,798,000. Hecla Mining accounts for approximately 3.2% of Eschler Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in HL. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Hecla Mining by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,881,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $603,566,000 after purchasing an additional 12,197,740 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Hecla Mining by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,349,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $863,324,000 after purchasing an additional 8,452,401 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Hecla Mining by 38.0% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,524,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $284,651,000 after purchasing an additional 6,472,566 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Hecla Mining by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 12,715,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $244,003,000 after purchasing an additional 5,906,313 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $88,417,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on HL. Weiss Ratings downgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Roth Mkm set a $13.00 price target on Hecla Mining in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright cut their price target on Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.79.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $15.30 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a quick ratio of 4.53 and a current ratio of 4.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.03. Hecla Mining Company has a one year low of $5.47 and a one year high of $34.17.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last announced its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $407.63 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 17.41%.Hecla Mining’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.0038 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is 2.44%.

About Hecla Mining

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.