Dallas, Texas 10/18/2013 (Financialstrend) – Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) is a small cap silver and gold mining company with a market cap of $986 million with annual sales of $324 million. The company has seen 122 years of continuous operations in gold and silver mining. It also boasts of being the first mining firm to have listed on NYSE.
During trading on October 17, the stock value went up by 3.5% over its previous day close. The stock had settled at $3.25 per share at close of business which translates to a 4.84% increase in its market value over the past week of trading.
Along with gold futures prices and gold mining stock silver mining stock too appreciated in value during trading yesterday. Analysts have speculated that the precious metals index has taken heart from the fact that October 16 Capitol hill deal on debt ceiling will force Fed to hold off on initiating cut down of its asset purchase program. This is because markets are expecting the temporary truce achieved on October 16 to break and wrangling to restart in February of 2014. Traders believe attendant uncertainty in the economy will force Fed to maintain status quo and the metals stock have appreciated in value because of these reasons.
Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Leveraged Finance Conference, Jim Sabala who is the Chief Financial Officer talked about how the company has managed to increase gold and silver production over the past few quarters while managing to drive down operating cost. In order to sustain the cyclical down turn being experienced by the gold and silver manufacturers the mining firm has issued bonds worth $500 million with maturity dates spanning six to eight years. Its net debt before the bond issue stood at $200 million. In the trailing 12 months period the company has issued dividends which work out to 0.31% dividend yield.
