B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) by 2.9% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,155,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,478 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Hecla Mining were worth $5,560,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Hecla Mining by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 60,513,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $291,070,000 after buying an additional 3,827,580 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Hecla Mining in the 4th quarter worth $13,761,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hecla Mining by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 59,420,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $285,811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,506,573 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Hecla Mining by 19.0% during the first quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 7,310,422 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,163,000 after buying an additional 1,165,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CoreCommodity Management LLC grew its holdings in Hecla Mining by 1,763.7% during the 4th quarter. CoreCommodity Management LLC now owns 1,029,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,954,000 after buying an additional 974,645 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction of $121,728.72. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 607,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,983,556.59. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Hecla Mining news, VP Robert Denis Brown sold 24,792 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total transaction of $121,728.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 607,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,983,556.59. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Russell Douglas Lawlar sold 11,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.91, for a total value of $57,343.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 393,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,019.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 67,105 shares of company stock worth $329,486 in the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

Shares of HL traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $5.78. 10,501,443 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,165,290. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.00. Hecla Mining has a 52 week low of $3.33 and a 52 week high of $6.35. The company’s 50 day moving average is $5.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.84.

Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $189.53 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.31 million. Hecla Mining had a negative net margin of 12.22% and a negative return on equity of 0.28%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Hecla Mining will post 0.05 EPS for the current year.

Hecla Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a $0.006 dividend. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently -20.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on HL. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Hecla Mining to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Hecla Mining from $4.60 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Hecla Mining to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Hecla Mining from $6.75 to $7.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $10.25 target price on shares of Hecla Mining in a report on Friday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.89.

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.