Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Hecla Mining Call Options (NYSE:HL)

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 17,339 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 70% compared to the average volume of 10,220 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Hecla Mining news, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 16,333 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total transaction of $84,604.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 297,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,543,551.94. This represents a 5.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert Krcmarov bought 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $5.29 per share, for a total transaction of $34,755.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 331,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,755,518.24. This trade represents a 2.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,915 shares of company stock valued at $300,000 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hecla Mining

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in HL. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 100.5% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,885,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $77,999,000 after purchasing an additional 7,960,826 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter worth $18,441,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 182.4% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,006,115 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,580,000 after acquiring an additional 3,233,116 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 1,331.9% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,997,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,858,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter worth $7,855,000. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $5.77 on Friday. Hecla Mining has a 52-week low of $4.41 and a 52-week high of $7.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.53 and a 200-day moving average of $5.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.32 and a beta of 1.77.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $249.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $229.21 million. Hecla Mining had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 3.10%. Equities research analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.21 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.