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

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $130.7778.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WPM. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a report on Sunday, December 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Zacks Research lowered Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of WPM opened at $120.88 on Tuesday. Wheaton Precious Metals has a one year low of $55.51 and a one year high of $125.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $108.71 and its 200-day moving average is $102.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.52.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $476.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.53 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 13.32%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue was up 54.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.34 EPS. Analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s payout ratio is 30.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WPM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the second quarter valued at approximately $656,463,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 36.2% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 6,955,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,938,000 after buying an additional 1,847,977 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 53.0% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,197,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $469,459,000 after buying an additional 1,453,572 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 26.1% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 6,455,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $722,270,000 after buying an additional 1,335,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 139.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,085,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,237,000 after acquiring an additional 1,215,660 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.