Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Price Target Raised to $77.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) had its price target upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $77.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

WPM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an outperformer rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Berenberg Bank increased their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $71.00 to $70.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $69.88.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE WPM traded down $0.38 on Friday, reaching $60.31. 1,320,342 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,776,579. Wheaton Precious Metals has a 12 month low of $38.57 and a 12 month high of $64.82. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.92. The company has a market cap of $27.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.78.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $299.06 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $309.54 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.54% and a net margin of 50.44%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a dividend of $0.155 per share. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s payout ratio is presently 47.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPM. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 21,403,409 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,008,743,000 after buying an additional 292,968 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.0% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,984,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,047,621,000 after buying an additional 197,426 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,770,475 shares of the company’s stock worth $790,392,000 after acquiring an additional 272,918 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 10,646,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $525,235,000 after buying an additional 550,804 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 16.0% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,309,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010,307 shares in the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.