Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $5.50, but opened at $5.75. Hecla Mining shares last traded at $5.66, with a volume of 1,831,229 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on HL. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Thursday, August 8th. National Bank Financial lowered Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price objective on Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $6.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.86. The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -137.50 and a beta of 2.00.

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

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.0138 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -125.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Hecla Mining

In other news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total value of $735,303.24. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 173,700 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,949. This represents a 38.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,865,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,499,000 after purchasing an additional 711,676 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 317.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 909,811 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,069,000 after acquiring an additional 691,862 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 603.6% in the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 162,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,083,000 after acquiring an additional 139,321 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 13,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 2,944 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 753.6% in the 3rd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 248,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,661,000 after acquiring an additional 219,811 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.