Short Interest in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Decreases By 6.3%

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hecla Mining

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in Hecla Mining by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 81,360 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 19,493 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter worth approximately $73,000. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining in the fourth quarter worth $49,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,438 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of Hecla Mining stock traded up $0.04 on Monday, hitting $5.39. 15,526,540 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,740,050. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $3.33 and a 12-month high of $7.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.86. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -134.68 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $245.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $232.03 million. Hecla Mining had a positive return on equity of 0.75% and a negative net margin of 2.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.01) EPS. Analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid 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 (DPR) is presently -125.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.