Eschler Asset Management LLP Invests $4.80 Million in Hecla Mining Company $HL

Eschler Asset Management LLP bought a new position in Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 250,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,798,000. Hecla Mining accounts for 3.2% of Eschler Asset Management LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Sittner & Nelson LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 93.5% during the 4th quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 781 shares during the period. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on HL shares. HC Wainwright dropped their price objective on Hecla Mining from $36.50 to $26.75 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings cut Hecla Mining from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen cut Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Roth Mkm set a $13.00 price objective on Hecla Mining in a report 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 objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.79.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 2.1%

HL opened at $15.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.33 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 4.94, a quick ratio of 4.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. Hecla Mining Company has a 12 month low of $5.47 and a 12 month high of $34.17. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $20.03.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $411.43 million during 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%.The company’s revenue was up 57.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.04 earnings per share.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 22nd were paid a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 22nd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 2.44%.

About Hecla Mining

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.