First Trust Advisors LP Has $77,000 Stock Holdings in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

First Trust Advisors LP trimmed its stake in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 56.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,095 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $77,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in HL. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,220,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,453,000 after acquiring an additional 502,094 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at $1,640,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 20.3% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,189,473 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,570,000 after purchasing an additional 707,712 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Hecla Mining by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,393,040 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $301,440,000 after purchasing an additional 774,000 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 202.4% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 76,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 50,969 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In other Hecla Mining news, Director Catherine J. Boggs bought 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $4.99 per share, for a total transaction of $99,800.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 348,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,363.31. This trade represents a 6.09% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert Krcmarov bought 6,570 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.29 per share, for a total transaction of $34,755.30. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 331,856 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,755,518.24. This represents a 2.02% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 57,915 shares of company stock valued at $300,000 over the last quarter. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

NYSE HL opened at $5.16 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $5.55. Hecla Mining has a 12-month low of $4.41 and a 12-month high of $7.68. The company has a market capitalization of $3.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 103.22 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.05 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $261.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.50 million. Hecla Mining had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 37.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Hecla Mining Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Investors of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a $0.0038 dividend. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining’s payout ratio is currently 9.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on HL. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Friday, February 14th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Hecla Mining to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. TD Securities decreased their target price on Hecla Mining from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $5.50 price target (down from $7.50) on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Hecla Mining currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.20.

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.