Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Shares Bought by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Free Report) by 1,331.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,997,790 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,858,271 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.32% of Hecla Mining worth $9,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,393,040 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $301,440,000 after purchasing an additional 774,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,904,662 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $68,289,000 after purchasing an additional 39,421 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,220,645 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,453,000 after purchasing an additional 502,094 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Hecla Mining by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,098,558 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $29,944,000 after purchasing an additional 289,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 182.4% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,006,115 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $24,580,000 after acquiring an additional 3,233,116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on HL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $5.50 price target (down from $7.50) on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities lowered their price target on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 5th. Roth Mkm lowered their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hecla Mining from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Hecla Mining to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $7.20.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 0.7%

HL stock traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $4.87. 17,531,003 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,173,945. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $5.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.08 billion, a PE ratio of 97.32 and a beta of 1.57. Hecla Mining has a one year low of $4.41 and a one year high of $7.68.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $261.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.50 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 3.85%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 37.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be paid a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Hecla Mining news, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 32,387 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total transaction of $167,764.66. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 246,440 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,276,559.20. This represents a 11.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Kurt Allen sold 9,195 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total transaction of $47,630.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 104,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at $541,372.16. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,915 shares of company stock valued at $300,000 over the last three months. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.