HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $11.50 target price on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.25.

Hecla Mining Stock Down 14.8 %

NYSE:HL opened at $5.43 on Friday. Hecla Mining has a one year low of $3.40 and a one year high of $7.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $5.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 2.27% and a positive return on equity of 0.75%. On average, analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.0038 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.28%. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is -125.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hecla Mining

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,393,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,440,000 after acquiring an additional 774,000 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $391,510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,238,559 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,904,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $68,289,000 after acquiring an additional 39,421 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,220,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after acquiring an additional 502,094 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,098,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,944,000 after acquiring an additional 289,865 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.