Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on HL. CIBC lifted their price target on Hecla Mining from $15.00 to $16.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Scotiabank began coverage on Hecla Mining in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, November 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Roth Capital set a $8.75 price target on Hecla Mining and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.22.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 0.7%

HL opened at $24.30 on Monday. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $4.46 and a 12-month high of $25.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.28 billion, a PE ratio of 78.39 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.27.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 16.35%.The company had revenue of $409.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $315.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 67.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other news, VP David C. Sienko sold 207,553 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.42, for a total value of $4,030,679.26. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 906,370 shares in the company, valued at $17,601,705.40. This represents a 18.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Kurt Allen sold 52,219 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.91, for a total value of $1,144,118.29. Following the sale, the vice president owned 216,641 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,746,604.31. This represents a 19.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 426,679 shares of company stock worth $7,678,773. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hecla Mining

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of HL. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,881,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $603,566,000 after purchasing an additional 12,197,740 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Hecla Mining by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,349,059 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $863,324,000 after buying an additional 8,452,401 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 38.0% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 23,524,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $284,651,000 after buying an additional 6,472,566 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 577.8% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,808,787 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,386,000 after acquiring an additional 5,804,298 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 14.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,485,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,278,000 after acquiring an additional 4,453,706 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

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.