Short Interest in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Declines By 12.2%

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 17,080,000 shares, a decline of 12.2% from the October 15th total of 19,460,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,090,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total transaction of $735,303.24. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 173,700 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,175,949. This represents a 38.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hecla Mining

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,420,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,811,000 after acquiring an additional 1,506,573 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,510,000 after buying an additional 2,238,559 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 34,644,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,027,000 after buying an additional 146,689 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 worth $92,499,000 after buying an additional 711,676 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining in the 1st quarter worth about $42,576,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on HL shares. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.25 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. TD Securities decreased their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Roth Mkm dropped their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.25 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of HL traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $5.66. The stock had a trading volume of 13,963,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,292,087. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average of $6.52 and a 200 day moving average of $5.87. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $3.33 and a 12 month high of $7.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -141.38 and a beta of 2.00.

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

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.0138 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -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.