Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 632,831 Shares of Hecla Mining Company $HL

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 43.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,085,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 632,831 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $38,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in HL. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Hecla Mining by 74.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC acquired a new position in Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 93.5% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective 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. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. HC Wainwright decreased their price target on Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Hecla Mining from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.12.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of HL stock opened at $14.40 on Friday. Hecla Mining Company has a 12-month low of $5.62 and a 12-month high of $34.17. The company has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.12 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.62. The company has a quick ratio of 4.53, a current ratio of 4.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $411.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $407.63 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 17.41%.Hecla Mining’s quarterly revenue was up 57.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were issued a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.01 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 22nd. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is presently 2.44%.

Hecla Mining 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.