Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $115.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $127.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $102.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.78.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE WPM opened at $124.93 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.04. Wheaton Precious Metals has a twelve month low of $55.51 and a twelve month high of $126.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 56.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.52.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.03. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 13.32% and a net margin of 54.72%.The company had revenue of $476.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $495.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.34 earnings per share. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue was up 54.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th were issued a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Bulwark Capital Corp bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Delta Asset Management LLC TN bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 70.34% of the stock is currently 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.