Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WPM. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.44.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $147.06 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $140.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.50. The company has a market capitalization of $66.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.50. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 1 year low of $68.03 and a 1 year high of $165.76.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 144.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 220 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 234 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Navalign LLC acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Wheaton Precious Metals

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.