Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at UBS Group

UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $78.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $66.50 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Canada downgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. TD Securities boosted their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

WPM stock opened at $62.97 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.03. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 52-week low of $38.57 and a 52-week high of $68.64.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The firm had revenue of $308.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.57 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 50.05%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.155 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the third quarter worth about $284,000. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 58.2% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 876,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,527,000 after acquiring an additional 322,339 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,002,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,939,000 after purchasing an additional 111,769 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 315,914 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,297,000 after purchasing an additional 28,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 585.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 1,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.