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

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) had its price objective raised by Raymond James from $75.00 to $88.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Raymond James currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on WPM. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.50.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Down 9.6 %

Shares of NYSE:WPM opened at $70.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $70.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.28. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 52-week low of $49.41 and a 52-week high of $80.43. The company has a market capitalization of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.165 per share. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.93%. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 56.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in 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 worth $1,154,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,999 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,672,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $994,733,000 after purchasing an additional 281,123 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,529,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $873,995,000 after buying an additional 863,306 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,424,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $530,057,000 after buying an additional 447,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter worth $472,648,000. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.