Semanteon Capital Management LP Makes New $236,000 Investment in Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL)

Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 47,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 5.4% during the 3rd 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 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 valued at $35,453,000 after buying an additional 502,094 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Hecla Mining by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,435,909 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,258,000 after buying an additional 1,842,991 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Hecla Mining during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,441,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Hecla Mining by 43.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,481,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059,929 shares during the last quarter. 63.01% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm reduced their price objective on Hecla Mining from $6.60 to $6.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $11.50 price objective on shares of Hecla Mining in a research note on Friday, February 14th. TD Securities cut Hecla Mining from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $6.50 to $5.50 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Hecla Mining from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.75.

Insider Activity at Hecla Mining

In related news, CEO Robert Krcmarov purchased 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.29 per share, with a total value of $34,755.30. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 331,856 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,755,518.24. This trade represents a 2.02 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Michael L. Clary sold 32,387 shares of Hecla Mining stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.18, for a total value of $167,764.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 246,440 shares in the company, valued at $1,276,559.20. This represents a 11.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 57,915 shares of company stock worth $300,000 over the last ninety days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hecla Mining Stock Performance

HL stock opened at $5.76 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.12 and a beta of 1.94. Hecla Mining has a 1 year low of $4.22 and a 1 year high of $7.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.83.

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

Hecla Mining Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 24th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.0038 per share. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.26%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.00%.

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.