Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) Trading Down 21.7% – Here’s What Happened

Hochschild Mining plc (LON:HOC) shares traded down 21.7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as GBX 231 ($3.13) and last traded at GBX 235.80 ($3.20). 56,159,953 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1,484% from the average session volume of 3,546,362 shares. The stock had previously closed at GBX 301.20 ($4.08).

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on HOC shares. Berenberg Bank dropped their price target on Hochschild Mining from GBX 210 ($2.85) to GBX 200 ($2.71) and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Hochschild Mining to an “outperform” rating and set a GBX 270 ($3.66) target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Hochschild Mining from GBX 285 ($3.86) to GBX 370 ($5.01) and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of GBX 290 ($3.93).

Hochschild Mining Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of £1.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 282.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 236.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 61.86.

Hochschild Mining Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 8th will be issued a $0.02 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 8th. This represents a dividend yield of 0.6%. Hochschild Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 85.32%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eduardo Landin acquired 77,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of GBX 272 ($3.69) per share, with a total value of £209,440 ($283,832.50). Corporate insiders own 38.71% of the company’s stock.

Hochschild Mining Company Profile

We are a leading underground precious metals producer focusing on high grade silver and gold deposits, with over 50 years’ operating experience in the Americas.

We currently operate three underground mines, two located in southern Peru and one in southern Argentina. All of our underground operations are epithermal vein mines and the principal mining method used is cut and fill.