8,407,652 Shares in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) Purchased by Norges Bank

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 8,407,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,648,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPM. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $20,790,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 4.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 955,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,422,000 after purchasing an additional 36,970 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 163,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,196,000 after purchasing an additional 26,924 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 buying an additional 39,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised 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 buying an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WPM. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WPM opened at $76.86 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.75. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $47.02 and a fifty-two week high of $77.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 56.90%.

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.