Trexquant Investment LP Purchases Shares of 2,002,094 Hecla Mining Company $HL

Key Points

• Trexquant Investment LP has acquired 2,002,094 shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE: HL) valued at approximately $11.13 million, representing about 0.32% ownership of the company.
• Multiple large investors have increased their stakes in Hecla Mining, with Tidal Investments LLC raising its ownership by over 100% in the last quarter.
• Hecla Mining's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, posting $0.08 earnings per share on revenue of $304.03 million, indicating a significant year-over-year revenue growth of 23.8%.

Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,002,094 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $11,132,000. Trexquant Investment LP owned 0.32% of Hecla Mining at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Hecla Mining by 8.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,827,696 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $160,285,000 after buying an additional 2,306,239 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings 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. Pale Fire Capital SE purchased a new position in Hecla Mining in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,360,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on HL. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $11.50 to $12.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 note on Thursday, August 7th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Hecla Mining to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $7.50 to $8.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $7.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $395,670.60. The trade was a 24.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:HL traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $8.99. The company had a trading volume of 22,789,539 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,988,834. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.99. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $6.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.16 and a beta of 1.29. Hecla Mining Company has a one year low of $4.46 and a one year high of $9.08.

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

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.0038 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Hecla Mining's payout ratio is presently 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.