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

Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.50.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on WPM shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Canada raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth $472,648,000. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter worth about $263,810,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth about $72,657,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,534,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,154,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 54.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,223,154 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,699 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WPM opened at $78.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $71.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.73. Wheaton Precious Metals has a fifty-two week low of $49.71 and a fifty-two week high of $80.43.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $380.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $395.74 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. This is a positive change from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.