Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.00.

WPM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada downgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from C$50.00 to C$45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $42.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, National Bank Financial reduced their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from C$80.00 to C$75.00 in a research report on Friday, July 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 20,234,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,745,000 after buying an additional 831,221 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 35.9% during the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 19,591,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $943,573,000 after purchasing an additional 5,171,114 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 3.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,310,279 shares of the company’s stock worth $495,440,000 after purchasing an additional 485,237 shares during the period. FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 30.0% during the first quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 6,774,555 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565,300 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.0% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,344,956 shares of the company’s stock worth $301,893,000 after purchasing an additional 361,138 shares during the period. 58.51% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of WPM stock opened at $42.15 on Friday. Wheaton Precious Metals has a fifty-two week low of $28.62 and a fifty-two week high of $52.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.20. The firm has a market cap of $19.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99, a PEG ratio of 7.31 and a beta of 0.60.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 11th. The company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 6.61% and a net margin of 65.87%. The business had revenue of $264.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $250.73 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.15 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 7th. Investors of record on Friday, August 25th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 44.12%.

About Wheaton Precious Metals

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. primarily sells precious metals in North America, Europe, and South America. It produces and sells gold, silver, palladium, and cobalt deposits. The company was formerly known as Silver Wheaton Corp. and changed its name to Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. in May 10, 2017. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.