Alps Advisors Inc. Purchases New Shares in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL)

Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 141,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $784,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Management Associates Inc increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 98.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital Management Associates Inc now owns 30,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 14,857 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,913,645 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $16,200,000 after acquiring an additional 115,512 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 387.4% during the 1st quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 69,812 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 55,488 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 39,611 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 7,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter valued at $168,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Catherine J. Boggs purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.99 per share, with a total value of $99,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 348,169 shares in the company, valued at $1,737,363.31. This trade represents a 6.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.66, for a total value of $126,047.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 59,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $395,670.60. This trade represents a 24.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company's stock.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

NYSE HL traded down $0.08 on Friday, reaching $5.88. 8,337,425 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,258,108. Hecla Mining Company has a 12 month low of $4.41 and a 12 month high of $7.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.56. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 53.41 and a beta of 1.47.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 3.87%. The business had revenue of $261.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.50 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.01) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 37.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on HL shares. TD Securities decreased their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Roth Capital reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. National Bank Financial raised shares of Hecla Mining to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $5.50 price target (down from $7.50) on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.07.

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.