Short Interest in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) Declines By 28.5%

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,430,000 shares, a drop of 28.5% from the April 30th total of 4,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.7 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company's stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Wheaton Precious Metals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,534,104 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,154,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,999 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,996,858 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,396,556,000 after buying an additional 324,340 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,529,219 shares of the company's stock worth $873,995,000 after purchasing an additional 863,306 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,424,930 shares of the company's stock worth $530,057,000 after purchasing an additional 447,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $472,648,000. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. CIBC lifted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an "outperformer" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $129.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $86.90.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of WPM traded down $1.16 on Thursday, reaching $91.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,642,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,680,046. Wheaton Precious Metals has a twelve month low of $51.96 and a twelve month high of $95.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.57 billion, a PE ratio of 68.35, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $81.72 and a 200 day moving average of $70.25.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.05. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The business had revenue of $470.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $446.33 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 58.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 28th will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Wheaton Precious Metals's dividend payout ratio is currently 48.53%.

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.