Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Price Target Cut to $145.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) had its price target decreased by Bank of America from $163.00 to $145.00 in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a report on Thursday, April 9th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen upped 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 note on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $161.55.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE WPM opened at $110.76 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $50.30 billion, a PE ratio of 27.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 12-month low of $87.96 and a 12-month high of $165.76. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $123.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $132.65.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $901.47 million during 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 revenue was up 91.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.195 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 19.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,079,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,242,969,000 after buying an additional 289,939 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,469,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,700,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402,092 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,650,000 after purchasing an additional 93,599 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter valued at about $864,977,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $857,598,000 after buying an additional 33,221 shares in the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.