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

Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.83.

WPM has been the topic of several research reports. Berenberg Bank upped their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Securities upgraded 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 report on Monday, March 18th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $59.00 to $66.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WPM opened at $56.08 on Friday. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 52-week low of $38.37 and a 52-week high of $57.87. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $54.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.67. The company has a market capitalization of $25.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.76.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.07. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 53.74% and a return on equity of 8.53%. The company had revenue of $296.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $278.95 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Wheaton Precious Metals’s quarterly revenue was up 38.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 11th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 29th were given a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 29th. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.11%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s payout ratio is currently 47.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPM. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 22.9% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,486 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,020,000 after buying an additional 13,875 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 4.8% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 80,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,285,000 after purchasing an additional 3,730 shares during the period. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the third quarter worth about $214,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.4% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,950,999 shares of the company’s stock worth $120,303,000 after purchasing an additional 11,316 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 22.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,586,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $104,895,000 after purchasing an additional 468,782 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Wheaton Precious Metals Company 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.