Teacher Retirement System of Texas Has $5.12 Million Holdings in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Free Report) by 24.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 920,944 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 304,649 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.15% of Hecla Mining worth $5,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in HL. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter valued at $57,000. CTC Alternative Strategies Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter valued at $59,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 117.6% in the first quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 11,574 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $64,000 after buying an additional 6,255 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on HL shares. Roth Capital reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $6.00 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $5.50 target price (down from $7.50) on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, May 5th. 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 research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, TD Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $6.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.66, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 24.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Catherine J. Boggs bought 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $4.99 per share, with a total value of $99,800.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 348,169 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,737,363.31. This represents a 6.09% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

HL stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $6.32. 33,864,299 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 16,088,313. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $5.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.52. Hecla Mining Company has a one year low of $4.41 and a one year high of $7.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.46 and a beta of 1.47.

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

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.09%.

Hecla Mining 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.