Over the last two days, insiders of Hecla Mining Co. (HL, Financial) acquired some shares of their own company.
According to the form 4 SEC filing, Lindsay A. Hall, Hecla Mining’s senior vice president and CFO, purchased 13,000 shares of his own company at a price of $3.807 on Dec. 15.
Following this transaction, Lindsay A. Hall holds a total volume of 139,481 shares in Hecla Mining.
The day before, Phillips S. Baker, Hecla Mining’s president and CEO, purchased 13,000 shares of Hecla Mining for a total direct holding of 3,151,137 shares. The transaction price was $3.76 per share according to the form 4 SEC filing.
Phillips S. Baker is also a director of the company.
These two transactions follow the one on Dec. 7, when Crumley Theodore, a non-employee director of Hecla Mining, purchased 10,000 shares of the company at a price of $3.49 per share.
Following the transaction, Crumley Theodore holds 126,536 shares of Hecla Mining through direct ownership of the company, as reported by the form 4 SEC filing.
Crumley Theodore also holds a volume of 105,332 shares of Hecla Mining through indirect ownership of the company. These were allocated to Crumley Theodore through the company’s stock plan for non-employee directors.
Knowing that insiders are increasing their holdings in their own company is of interest to investors because this may be a sign the stock is undervalued by the market.
Hecla Mining Company is currently trading at $3.91 per share on the New York Stock Exchange and for the 52-weeks through Dec. 15 it has lost 32.7%, outperforming the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF by 33%:
Source: Yahoo Finance
Hecla Mining has an average target price of $5.38 per share, which represents a 37.6% upside from the current market value per share and a 41.3% upside from Lindsay A. Hall’s purchasing price.
The recommendation rating is 2.5 out of 5.
Hecla Mining is a U.S. mining company engaged in the production and sale of gold and silver.
The company can annually milk something like 17 million ounces of silver from its reserves of 172 million ounces and 235,000 ounces of gold from its reserves of 2 million ounces of gold.
Thanks to a fierce commitment of its exploration team in enhancing shareholders’ long-term value through acquisitions of mineral resources and other mining-related activities, Hecla Mining’s silver and gold reserves have substantially grown over the last decade and according to a hefty 235% rate.
Operating mines are in Canada, U.S. and Mexico, while pre-development and exploration projects are being undertaken by the miner in the U.S.
Hecla Mining has approximately 399.02 million shares outstanding, of which about 394.84 are float. The percentage of the company’s shares outstanding held by insiders is 1.41% and by institutions is 68.25%. Among the top institutional holders, Van Eck Associates Corp. stands out with 38,531,381 shares of Hecla Mining held or about 9.66% of the company’s total shares outstanding as of June 29. This holding is valued at $195,739,412 as of Sept. 29.
Disclosure: I have no positions in Hecla Mining.
