Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Short Interest Update

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 15,720,000 shares, a decrease of 6.3% from the December 15th total of 16,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Hecla Mining

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of HL. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 771.8% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,013 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 4,438 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Hecla Mining during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Hecla Mining during the third quarter valued at $49,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Finally, M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. 63.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. National Bank Financial cut Hecla Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Hecla Mining from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Securities cut their target price on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:HL traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $5.39. 15,526,540 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,740,050. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -134.68 and a beta of 1.91. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $3.33 and a 12 month high of $7.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.37 and a 200 day moving average of $5.85.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. Hecla Mining had a positive return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $245.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.03 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.01) EPS. Hecla Mining’s quarterly revenue was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.0138 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -125.00%.

Hecla Mining Company Profile

Hecla Mining Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides precious and base metal properties in the United States, Canada, Japan, Korea, and China. The company mines for silver, gold, lead, and zinc concentrates, as well as carbon material containing silver and gold for custom smelters, metal traders, and third-party processors; and doré containing silver and gold.