Eastern Bank Sells 24,000 Shares of Hecla Mining Company $HL

Key Points

• Eastern Bank reduced its holdings in Hecla Mining Company by 54.5%, selling 24,000 shares to end up with 20,000 shares valued at $120,000.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard Group, Dimensional Fund Advisors, and Invesco, have increased their stakes in Hecla Mining during the first quarter.
• Hecla Mining has received mixed analyst ratings, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a price target range spanning from $6.50 to $15.00.

Eastern Bank cut its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Free Report) by 54.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 24,000 shares during the period. Eastern Bank's holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,830,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $349,340,000 after buying an additional 1,437,895 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,827,696 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $160,285,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306,239 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 12.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,124,216 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $67,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366,700 shares in the last quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE bought a new stake in Hecla Mining in the 1st quarter valued at $41,360,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 62.3% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,442,667 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,701,000 after acquiring an additional 1,705,994 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

HL has been the topic of a number of research reports. CIBC boosted their price target on Hecla Mining from $12.50 to $15.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Hecla Mining from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Roth Capital set a $8.75 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.75.

Insider Transactions at Hecla Mining

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 14,472 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.29, for a total value of $163,388.88. Following the sale, the vice president owned 73,200 shares in the company, valued at $826,428. This represents a 16.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

NYSE HL opened at $12.57 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $9.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.05. Hecla Mining Company has a 1 year low of $4.46 and a 1 year high of $13.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.54 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd were paid a $0.0038 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio is currently 6.25%.

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.

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