American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 615,705 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,147 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $34,629,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter valued at about $20,790,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $58,422,000 after buying an additional 36,970 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 26,924 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 42.7% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 133,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,170,000 after acquiring an additional 39,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DF Dent & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 45,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,761,000 after acquiring an additional 14,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

WPM opened at $76.86 on Friday. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 12-month low of $47.02 and a 12-month high of $77.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.87 billion, a PE ratio of 57.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $68.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.75.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $380.52 million during 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on WPM. 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. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.44.

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.