Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Research Coverage Started at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) in a research note published on Thursday. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $240.00 price target on the stock.

WPM has been the subject of several other research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. TD Securities boosted their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research lowered Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.45.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $144.76 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $65.73 billion, a PE ratio of 44.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.60. Wheaton Precious Metals has a one year low of $75.42 and a one year high of $165.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $140.53 and a 200 day moving average of $123.15.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.31. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 17.17% and a net margin of 63.58%.The company had revenue of $864.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $719.59 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 127.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a $0.195 dividend. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. This is a positive change from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,079,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,242,969,000 after acquiring an additional 289,939 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,469,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402,092 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,650,000 after acquiring an additional 93,599 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter worth about $864,977,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,598,000 after acquiring an additional 33,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

About Wheaton Precious Metals

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. is a Canada-based precious metals streaming company that acquires and manages long-term purchase agreements for metals produced by mining companies. Rather than operating mines, Wheaton provides upfront and ongoing financing to miners in exchange for the right to purchase a portion of the metals produced — typically silver and gold, and occasionally other precious metals — at predetermined prices. This streaming business model offers investors exposure to metal production with reduced operating and capital-cost risk compared with traditional mining companies.

The company’s activities center on structuring and maintaining a diversified portfolio of streaming agreements across multiple jurisdictions.