Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Boosts Stake in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Free Report) by 603.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 162,404 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 139,321 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd's holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $1,083,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 48.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 15,532 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 5,104 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 261.2% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 141,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $687,000 after acquiring an additional 102,392 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 313.6% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 6,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 4,967 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $91,000. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 8,219,231 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $39,863,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,515 shares during the period. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hecla Mining news, VP Kurt Allen sold 108,612 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.77, for a total value of $735,303.24. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 173,700 shares in the company, valued at $1,175,949. The trade was a 38.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on HL shares. StockNews.com downgraded Hecla Mining from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $8.50 to $8.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial cut shares of Hecla Mining from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $7.94.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of HL traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $5.53. 9,493,350 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,372,282. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.88. Hecla Mining has a fifty-two week low of $3.33 and a fifty-two week high of $7.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of -146.00 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $245.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $232.03 million. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 2.27% and a positive return on equity of 0.75%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 34.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.01) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.0138 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. Hecla Mining's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -125.00%.

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.