Short Interest in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) Drops By 8.5%

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) saw a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 18,910,000 shares, a decline of 8.5% from the November 15th total of 20,660,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 12,200,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days.

Hecla Mining Price Performance

Shares of Hecla Mining stock opened at $5.33 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a PE ratio of -133.25 and a beta of 1.92. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $6.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.87. 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 has a twelve month low of $3.33 and a twelve month high of $7.68.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.01. The firm 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 quarter last year, the company earned ($0.01) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Hecla Mining will post 0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.0138 dividend. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -125.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HL. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Hecla Mining by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 54,680,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,238,559 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 34,644,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $168,027,000 after purchasing an additional 146,689 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Hecla Mining by 5.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,865,241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,499,000 after buying an additional 711,676 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 7.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,718,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,813,000 after buying an additional 456,107 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Hecla Mining by 51.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,435,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,258,000 after acquiring an additional 1,842,991 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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