Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $60.39.

WPM has been the subject of several research reports. TD Securities raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $59.00 to $66.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPM. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.4% in the first quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 21,403,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,008,743,000 after purchasing an additional 292,968 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,521,065 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,012,517,000 after buying an additional 1,856,031 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,770,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,392,000 after acquiring an additional 272,918 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,646,479 shares of the company’s stock worth $525,235,000 after acquiring an additional 550,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $387,481,000. Institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Up 1.6 %

WPM opened at $59.27 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.76. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 12 month low of $38.37 and a 12 month high of $59.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.80.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $296.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $278.95 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.53% and a net margin of 53.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 29th were paid a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.69%.

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 2017. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp.