Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Sees Large Volume Increase - What's Next?

Key Points

• Wheaton Precious Metals shares surged to $145.47 from a $132.70 prior close, while trading volume rose 84% to 4.12 million shares.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 12 Buy ratings and one Hold; the stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $165.55, despite several recent target reductions.
• The company beat quarterly EPS expectations at $1.19 versus $1.15, while revenue increased 84.7% year over year to $878 million. Wheaton also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.195 per share, implying a 0.5% annualized yield.

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . 4,122,401 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 84% from the previous session's volume of 2,239,810 shares.The stock last traded at $145.47 and had previously closed at $132.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WPM shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $163.00 to $145.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Berenberg Bank set a $157.00 price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Wheaton Precious Metals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $165.55.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $65.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.55. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $116.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 21.97% and a net margin of 64.66%.The company had revenue of $878.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $879.29 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.63 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 84.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wheaton Precious Metals's dividend payout ratio is 17.29%.

Institutional Trading of Wheaton Precious Metals

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,079,029 shares of the company's stock worth $2,242,969,000 after acquiring an additional 289,939 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,402,092 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company's stock worth $892,650,000 after purchasing an additional 93,599 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $864,977,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company's stock valued at $857,598,000 after purchasing an additional 33,221 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wheaton Precious Metals Company 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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