Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Given New $88.00 Price Target at Raymond James

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) had its price target hoisted by Raymond James from $75.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on WPM. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.50.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

WPM opened at $70.99 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.28. The stock has a market cap of $32.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 12 month low of $49.41 and a 12 month high of $80.43.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $380.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $395.74 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.165 dividend. This is a positive change from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.90%.

Institutional Trading of Wheaton Precious Metals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter worth approximately $20,790,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 163,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,196,000 after purchasing an additional 26,924 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 42.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 133,627 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,170,000 after purchasing an additional 39,979 shares in the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 44.9% in the third quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 45,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 399,035 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,442,000 after buying an additional 33,256 shares during the period. 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.