Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 281,123 Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,672,518 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 281,123 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $994,733,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,231,999 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 2,931,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,853,000 after purchasing an additional 177,071 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 21.3% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,923,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,551,000 after purchasing an additional 513,890 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,541,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,356,000 after purchasing an additional 267,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,002,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,939,000 after buying an additional 111,769 shares in the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of WPM stock opened at $76.86 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $68.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.75. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 52-week low of $47.02 and a 52-week high of $77.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $380.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $395.74 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 50.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

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

Wheaton Precious Metals 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.