Hecla Mining Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:HL)

Key Points

• Hecla Mining experienced a significant increase in options trading, with 39,455 call options acquired, marking a 147% rise over the average daily volume.
• Insider trading was noted as VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of Hecla Mining, reducing their stake by 24.16%.
• Several institutional investors increased their holdings, with Vanguard Group Inc. raising its stake by 2.3% to own over 62 million shares, contributing to institutional ownership of 63.01% of the stock.

Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 39,455 call options on the stock. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately147% compared to the average daily volume of 15,971 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Stuart Maurice Absolom sold 18,926 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.66, for a total value of $126,047.16. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,306,239 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 7,960,826 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Hecla Mining by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,904,662 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $68,289,000 after buying an additional 39,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Hecla Mining by 12.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 12,124,216 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $67,411,000 after buying an additional 1,366,700 shares in the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on HL shares. CIBC boosted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. 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. TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $11.50 to $12.50 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Hecla Mining presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.36.

Hecla Mining Stock Up 18.2%

Shares of HL traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $7.23. 31,272,673 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,809,459. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The company has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.60 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.64. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $4.46 and a 12-month high of $7.68.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.03. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 3.87% and a net margin of 7.13%. The firm had revenue of $304.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.93 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.02 EPS. The company's revenue was up 23.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

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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