FIL Ltd Has $560.03 Million Stock Position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

FIL Ltd lessened its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,951,824 shares of the company’s stock after selling 383,779 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned 2.19% of Wheaton Precious Metals worth $560,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WPM. Versant Capital Management Inc acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 494.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 696 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Canada raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.50.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $70.74 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.79, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 52 week low of $49.41 and a 52 week high of $80.43.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.01). Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 50.05%. The business had revenue of $380.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $395.74 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This is a positive change from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.90%.

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.