Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in Hecla Mining Company $HL

Legal & General Group Plc lowered its stake in shares of Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) by 39.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,021,992 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 673,290 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.15% of Hecla Mining worth $19,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 2,390.0% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 255.6% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 4,425 shares in the last quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, MAI Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the 3rd quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. HC Wainwright cut their price target on Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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. Roth Mkm set a $13.00 price target on Hecla Mining in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.25.

Hecla Mining Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $17.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.82 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.99. Hecla Mining Company has a 1-year low of $5.28 and a 1-year high of $34.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 4.94 and a quick ratio of 4.53.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $411.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $407.63 million. Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 16.89% and a net margin of 17.41%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Hecla Mining Company will post 0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 22nd will be issued a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 22nd. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is currently 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.