New York, July 15, 2026, 18:09 (EDT)
Scotiabank (TSE:BNS) cut its price target on Hecla Mining NYSE:HL down to $21 from $25 on Tuesday, keeping its rating the same. With 670.71 million shares, the $4 drop takes about $2.68 billion off the broker’s projected equity value, or around a quarter of Hecla’s $10.4 billion market cap.
Scotiabank cut its price target on Hecla Mining even as it bumped up its silver-price call in the same round of updates. The bank raised its target on Coeur Mining Inc. NYSE:CDE by 3.6% and only lowered First Majestic Silver Corp. NYSE:AG by 2.2%. That split hints the move on Hecla is more about its own issues than about the silver outlook.
Hecla ended the session at $15.46, trading between $14.80 and $15.70. Volume hit 38.38 million shares, about 1.84 times the 65-day average. Nearby silver futures dropped 2.8% to settle at $57.11 an ounce, the weakest close since Dec. 4, 2025. Mizuho Securities USA’s Robert Yawger called silver “the worst-performing commodity” in a note. MarketWatch
| Company | Scotiabank rating | Old target | New target | Change | Upside to July 15 close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hecla Mining NYSE:HL | Sector Perform | $25.00 | $21.00 | -16.0% | 35.8% |
| Coeur Mining NYSE:CDE | Outperform | $27.50 | $28.50 | +3.6% | 79.1% |
| First Majestic Silver NYSE:AG | Sector Perform | $23.00 | $22.50 | -2.2% | 33.6% |
Implied upside is based on July 15 closing prices: Hecla at $15.46, Coeur at $15.91, and First Majestic at $16.84.
Hecla’s close puts the new target at 35.8% upside, down from 61.7% under the old one. That’s a drop of 25.9 points in potential upside, despite no change in rating. The muted ending disguised a bigger downgrade in the bank’s stance on the po
Scotiabank’s Eric Winmill left his Sector Perform rating in place, which signals he sees returns staying close to the sector. According to public parts of the research, the bank now expects a “more hawkish environment” for gold through 2027 but raised its silver outlook. There was no detailed public explanation for why Hecla’s target was cut a lot more than others GuruFocus
Production numbers tell part of the story. Hecla’s Q1 silver output came in at 3.9 million ounces, which is 23.6% to 25.8% of its full-year guidance of 15.1 million to 16.5 million ounces. To hit the middle of that range, the miner has to put up an average of 3.97 million ounces each quarter for the rest of the year, just above what it managed in the first quarter .
| 2026 guidance case | Full-year silver | Still needed in Q2-Q4 | Required quarterly average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low end | 15.1 million oz | 11.2 million oz still to go | 3.73 million ounces per quarter |
| Midpoint | 15.8 million oz | 11.9 million oz left | 3.97 million oz quarterly |
| High end | 16.5 million oz | 12.6 million oz remains | 4.20 million ounces a quarter |
*Quarterly numbers are straight arithmetic, not comp
Hecla’s balance sheet gives the company some flexibility. CEO Rob Krcmarov said in May that Hecla was “debt-free with a $225 million undrawn revolver” after it paid off its last senior notes. The miner also reported $144 million in first-quarter Business Wire.
Keno Hill has been tough to run. First-quarter silver production dropped 18% from the last quarter, squeezed by lower grades and power limits that hit mine sequencing. Hecla hasn’t hit its own bar to include Keno Hill in consolidated silver cost guidance — says regular production isn’t there yet for accounting. Keeping output at the approved 440 tons daily will need infrastructure work and some license changes, with that likely to take years, th
The reset could swing in either direction. If silver bounces or Hecla hits the high end of its output range, $21 might prove conservative. But more weakness in metals, or a setback at Keno Hill, would put even this lower target The Wall Street Journal at risk.
Wednesday ended almost flat, but that just scratches the surface. Scotiabank’s target cut signals the bank doesn’t see the same upside for the current rating. Hecla’s latest numbers show the production mark is still about where it was after Q1. Investors are now looking for proof that output at the mine level—especially from Keno Hill—can turn a healthy balance sheet into consistent cTipRanksurn681615view2
