Private Advisor Group LLC Has $4.49 Million Holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 90,953 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,697 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $4,488,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WPM. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,521,065 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,012,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,031 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,585,266 shares of the company’s stock worth $307,583,000 after buying an additional 713,381 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 20,998,263 shares of the company’s stock valued at $851,480,000 after buying an additional 644,746 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,586,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,895,000 after acquiring an additional 468,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,429,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,102,000 after acquiring an additional 388,371 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WPM. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $52.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.25.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Up 2.6 %

WPM stock opened at $55.78 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.00 and a 200-day moving average of $47.13. The company has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.87, a PEG ratio of 7.13 and a beta of 0.75. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a twelve month low of $38.37 and a twelve month high of $56.01.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 52.92% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The company had revenue of $313.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $284.29 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd were given a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 2nd. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.10%.

Wheaton Precious Metals Profile

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.