Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) saw a sharp increase in short-term interest in October. As of October 29, there was short interest totaling 9,230,000 shares, an increase of 21.9% from the total of 7,570,000 shares as of October 14. Currently 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 6,510,000 shares, the day / hedge ratio is currently 1.4 days.

A number of hedge funds have recently changed their holdings of stocks. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings of Hecla Mining shares by 3.1% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 51,553,703 shares of the basic materials company valued at $ 383,560,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,234 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings of Hecla Mining shares by 2.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 50,153,331 shares of the basic materials company valued at $ 373,141,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212,378 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings of Hecla Mining shares by 2.2% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 29,656,061 shares of the basic materials company valued at $ 163,108,000 after acquiring an additional 644,131 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Hecla Mining shares by 11.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,151,990 shares of the basic materials company valued at $ 75,530,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032,515 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in Hecla Mining shares by 8.7% during the third quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 7,310,519 shares of the basic materials company valued at $ 40,208,000 after acquiring an additional 583,873 shares during the period. 59.75% of the shares are held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

HL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Hecla Mining from a “keep” rating to a “buy” rating and set a target price of $ 7.00 on the stock in a report released on Wednesday, September 8. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Hecla Mining from a “strong sell” rating to a “conservation” rating in a report released on Thursday, November 11. Roth Capital provided coverage on Hecla Mining in a report on Monday, September 27. They set a “buy” rating and a price target of $ 7.50 for the stock. The Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperformance” rating and set a price target of $ 6.62 on Hecla Mining shares in a report released on Monday, July 26. Finally, HC Wainwright lowered its price target on Hecla Mining from $ 7.75 to $ 7.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report released on Wednesday, October 13. Three equity research analysts rated the stock with a conservation rating and four gave the company a buy rating. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Hecla Mining currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $ 7.64.

HL lost $ 0.12 on Friday, hitting $ 6.03. The company had a trading volume of 5,110,504 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,507,095. The company’s fifty-day simple moving average is $ 5.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is of $ 6.73. The company has a market cap of $ 3.24 billion, a PE ratio of -37.69, a PEG ratio of 56.46 and a beta of 2.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.46, and a debt ratio of 0.30. Hecla Mining has a 12 month low of $ 4.65 and a 12 month high of $ 9.44.

Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) last released its results on Thursday, November 4. The basic materials company reported ($ 0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $ 0.01 of ($ 0.21). The company posted revenue of $ 193.60 million in the quarter, compared to a consensus estimate of $ 181.65 million. Hecla Mining recorded a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 2.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% from the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company made earnings per share of $ 0.05. On average, analysts expect Hecla Mining to post earnings per share of 0.11 for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 3. Investors of record on Friday, November 19 will receive a dividend of $ 0.0038. The ex-date of this dividend is Thursday, November 18. This represents an annualized dividend of $ 0.02 and a return of 0.25%. Hecla Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -31.25%.

About Hecla Mining

Hecla Mining Co operates as a silver and gold production company. The company produces lead, zinc and bulk concentrates for foundries and contract brokers; and develops ingots of unrefined bullion and precipitates for dealers in precious metals. It operates in the following business segments: The Greens Creek, The Lucky Friday, The Casa Berardi, The Nevada Operations and The San Sebastian.

Further Reading: How is Net Asset Value Different from Market Price?

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