Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Sets New 1-Year High at $54.45

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $54.45 and last traded at $53.95, with a volume of 167296 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.73.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WPM. Berenberg Bank boosted their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. CIBC boosted their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, National Bank Financial lowered Wheaton Precious Metals from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $59.32.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.34. The firm has a market cap of $24.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.37 and a beta of 0.77.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 7.76% and a net margin of 52.92%. The firm had revenue of $313.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $284.29 million. On average, research analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.21 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This is an increase from Wheaton Precious Metals's previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Wheaton Precious Metals's dividend payout ratio is 52.10%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 38.6% in the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,178 shares of the company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 87,860 shares of the company's stock worth $3,563,000 after buying an additional 5,181 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 496,550 shares of the company's stock worth $20,135,000 after buying an additional 17,745 shares during the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 900 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 15,505 shares of the company's stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 7,992 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.34% of the company's stock.

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.