Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases New Stake in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 39,910 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of HL. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 7.3% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,718,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,813,000 after purchasing an additional 456,107 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Hecla Mining by 221.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 632,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,220,000 after buying an additional 435,634 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 353,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,359,000 after acquiring an additional 15,598 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 1,615.6% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 264,619 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,765,000 after acquiring an additional 249,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,435,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,991 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 32,387 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total value of $167,764.66. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 246,440 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,559.20. The trade was a 11.62 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Kurt Allen sold 9,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total value of $47,630.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 104,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $541,372.16. The trade was a 8.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,915 shares of company stock worth $300,000 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of NYSE HL opened at $5.67 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.84. Hecla Mining has a 1-year low of $4.41 and a 1-year high of $7.68. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 113.32 and a beta of 1.94.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.01). Hecla Mining had a return on equity of 3.10% and a net margin of 3.85%. The firm had revenue of $249.66 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.21 million. Analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.0038 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.26%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Securities lowered shares of Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $6.50 to $5.50 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.50 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Friday, February 14th. Roth Mkm dropped their price target on Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $7.75.

About Hecla Mining

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.