Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stock Holdings in Hecla Mining Company $HL

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Hecla Mining Company by 8.7%, acquiring an additional 2,306,239 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 28.8 million shares valued at $160.3 million.
• Hecla Mining reported a 23.8% increase in revenue year-over-year, achieving $304.03 million for the quarter and outpacing analysts' expectations of $248.93 million.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.0038 per share, reflecting a 0.2% yield, with the payment scheduled for September 4th and an ex-dividend date on August 22nd.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Free Report) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,827,696 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,306,239 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 4.56% of Hecla Mining worth $160,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,830,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $349,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,895 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in Hecla Mining by 100.5% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,885,647 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $77,999,000 after buying an additional 7,960,826 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 valued at $29,944,000 after buying an additional 289,865 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 62.3% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,442,667 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,701,000 after buying an additional 1,705,994 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the 1st quarter worth approximately $18,410,000. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Hecla Mining from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. National Bankshares set a $7.00 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Friday, June 13th. National Bank Financial raised shares of Hecla Mining to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, CIBC increased their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $7.36.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

NYSE HL traded up $0.1890 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $7.8790. The company had a trading volume of 19,192,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,819,428. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $6.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.81. The company has a market capitalization of $5.28 billion, a PE ratio of 49.25 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Hecla Mining Company has a twelve month low of $4.46 and a twelve month high of $8.04.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $304.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.93 million. Hecla Mining had a net margin of 9.55% and a return on equity of 5.51%. The company's revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.02 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd will be issued a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.25%.

Insider Transactions at Hecla Mining

In other news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president owned 59,410 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $395,670.60. This represents a 24.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.