Ninety One UK Ltd Sells 122,780 Shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Ninety One UK Ltd trimmed its stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,415,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 122,780 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $30,859,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 104.3% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 9,659 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 4,932 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Advisor Partners II LLC bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

HL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. National Bank Financial restated an “outperform market weight” rating on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Hecla Mining from $4.60 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hecla Mining to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.68.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

HL opened at $5.29 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.33. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $3.33 and a 12-month high of $6.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.65, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $160.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.51 million. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 11.69% and a negative return on equity of 0.27%. The company’s revenue was down 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.02 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.02 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 12th were issued a dividend of $0.006 per share. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 11th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is presently -20.00%.

Hecla Mining 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.