Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM - Free Report) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,996,858 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 324,340 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 3.97% of Wheaton Precious Metals worth $1,396,556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. NBT Bank N A NY lifted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 129.3% during the 1st quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 415 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1,812.8% during the 1st quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 746 shares of the company's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 77.4% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 763 shares of the company's stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WPM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. National Bankshares reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group set a $106.00 price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank raised their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.33.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

WPM stock traded down $1.30 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $95.11. 2,183,415 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,861,776. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $91.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.30. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 52 week low of $55.47 and a 52 week high of $103.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.18 billion, a PE ratio of 54.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.39.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.58 by $0.05. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 47.46% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $503.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $424.23 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 68.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Wheaton Precious Metals's payout ratio is presently 38.15%.

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.