Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $77.53 and last traded at $77.39, with a volume of 84453 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $76.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $72.44.

Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Up 0.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $34.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.23, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.06 and a 200-day moving average of $63.62.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.01). Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The company had revenue of $380.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $395.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 56.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $472,648,000. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth $263,810,000. FMR LLC grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,692,594 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at $72,657,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,534,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,843,000 after buying an additional 1,231,999 shares in the last quarter. 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.