Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Hecla Mining has a consensus analyst rating of "Hold" from eight firms, with five hold ratings, two buys, and one sell; the average 12-month price target is $24.13.
• The company reported Q1 earnings of $0.24 per share, missing estimates, while revenue of $411.43 million came in slightly above forecasts and rose 57.4% year over year.
• Hecla Mining also declared a small quarterly dividend of $0.0038 per share, and institutional investors remain heavily involved, with 63.01% of shares owned by hedge funds and other institutions.

Shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $24.1250.

A number of research firms have issued reports on HL. Scotiabank cut their target price on Hecla Mining from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Hecla Mining from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Hecla Mining from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. HC Wainwright cut their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised shares of Hecla Mining from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th.

Hecla Mining Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $15.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.87 and a beta of 1.29. Hecla Mining has a twelve month low of $5.62 and a twelve month high of $34.17. The company has a current ratio of 4.94, a quick ratio of 4.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $15.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.48.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.27 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $411.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.63 million. Hecla Mining had a net margin of 17.41% and a return on equity of 16.89%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.04 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.0038 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.01 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.44%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hecla Mining

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Hecla Mining by 20.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,285,345 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $23,827,000 after acquiring an additional 739,360 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 24.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,959,276 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $10,894,000 after acquiring an additional 380,448 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 65,536 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $393,000 after acquiring an additional 6,450 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 71.6% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 78,395 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 32,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.8% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 153,867 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 2,793 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Hecla Mining Company Profile

Hecla Mining Company, founded in 1891 and headquartered in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, is one of the oldest publicly traded precious metals companies in the United States. Originally established to develop the rich silver deposits of the Coeur d'Alene district, Hecla has evolved into a diversified mining enterprise focused on the exploration, development and production of silver and gold, with by-product credits from lead and zinc.

The company's principal operations are located in North America and Latin America.

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