Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Coverage Initiated at UBS Group

UBS Group began coverage on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $78.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Stifel Canada cut Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $66.50 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.67.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

WPM opened at $62.97 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.56 billion, a PE ratio of 46.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.77. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 52 week low of $38.57 and a 52 week high of $68.64.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The business had revenue of $308.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $324.57 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 50.05%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 46.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,984,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,047,621,000 after acquiring an additional 197,426 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,770,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $790,392,000 after acquiring an additional 272,918 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 33.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,665,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $895,723,000 after acquiring an additional 3,692,594 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 16.0% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,309,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 22.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,950,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,920,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092,480 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Wheaton Precious Metals

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.