Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.17 Per Share

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, March 14th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.165 per share on Friday, April 11th. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This is a 6.5% increase from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16.

Wheaton Precious Metals has raised its dividend by an average of 2.8% per year over the last three years. Wheaton Precious Metals has a payout ratio of 32.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Wheaton Precious Metals to earn $1.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.9%.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

NYSE:WPM traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $73.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,460,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,582,770. Wheaton Precious Metals has a twelve month low of $43.18 and a twelve month high of $74.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.60. The company has a market capitalization of $33.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.09, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WPM shares. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Monday, November 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $78.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

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.