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

Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $155.6364.

WPM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of WPM stock opened at $128.54 on Friday. Wheaton Precious Metals has a fifty-two week low of $85.59 and a fifty-two week high of $165.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $134.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $131.45. The firm has a market cap of $58.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.46, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.51.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $901.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $868.35 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 65.55% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 91.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 4.98 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 27th. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WPM. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 20,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,405,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,401,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Gables Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wheaton Precious Metals Company Profile

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.