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

Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.56.

Several equities analysts recently commented on WPM shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $62.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $66.50 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th.

Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Down 0.9 %

Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $61.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.32. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 1-year low of $38.37 and a 1-year high of $63.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.78.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $299.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.54 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.54% and a net margin of 50.44%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 528,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,081,000 after acquiring an additional 24,676 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $620,000 after purchasing an additional 3,646 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $387,481,000. Finally, Balentine LLC bought a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

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.