Amundi Sells 69,458 Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. $WPM

Key Points

• Amundi reduced its Wheaton Precious Metals position by 2.7%, selling 69,458 shares in the second quarter, but still held 2.46 million shares valued at approximately $276.5 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 12 Buy ratings and one Hold rating; the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $165.55 despite several recent target reductions.
• Wheaton reported strong quarterly results, including $1.19 in adjusted EPS versus the $1.15 estimate and 84.7% year-over-year revenue growth. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.195 per share, or $0.78 annually.

Amundi trimmed its position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM - Free Report) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,461,602 shares of the company's stock after selling 69,458 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned 0.54% of Wheaton Precious Metals worth $276,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPM. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,469,877 shares of the company's stock worth $1,700,517,000 after acquiring an additional 1,402,092 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company's stock valued at $892,650,000 after buying an additional 93,599 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $864,977,000. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company's stock worth $857,598,000 after buying an additional 33,221 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,061,090 shares of the company's stock worth $830,134,000 after acquiring an additional 605,415 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.34% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WPM. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $182.00 to $177.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $165.55.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $154.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $131.53. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 12 month low of $92.57 and a 12 month high of $165.76. The company has a market capitalization of $70.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $878.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $879.29 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 64.66% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 84.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. Analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Wheaton Precious Metals's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 17.29%.

Wheaton Precious Metals Profile

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.

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