Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) PT Raised to $61.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) had its price objective upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $52.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, BayStreet.CA reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on WPM. Berenberg Bank increased their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. TD Securities raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $53.00 in a report on Monday, March 18th. Raymond James reduced their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $59.32.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

WPM stock opened at $53.73 on Monday. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 1 year low of $38.37 and a 1 year high of $54.30. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.28. The firm has a market cap of $24.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.36 and a beta of 0.77.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 52.92%. The firm had revenue of $313.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $284.29 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 3rd were issued a $0.155 dividend. This is an increase from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.10%.

Institutional Trading of Wheaton Precious Metals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 21,110,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,041,589,000 after acquiring an additional 112,178 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in 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 valued at $1,012,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856,031 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,497,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $813,989,000 after acquiring an additional 294,488 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,646,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,235,000 after acquiring an additional 550,804 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $387,481,000. 70.34% of the stock is currently 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.