Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. $WPM Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,610,738 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,557,346 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $1,011,933,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,079,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,242,969,000 after buying an additional 289,939 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,469,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,700,517,000 after buying an additional 1,402,092 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company’s stock valued at $892,650,000 after buying an additional 93,599 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter valued at about $864,977,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $857,598,000 after buying an additional 33,221 shares during the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of WPM opened at $128.46 on Wednesday. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 12-month low of $85.59 and a 12-month high of $165.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $132.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $132.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.51.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 65.55% and a return on equity of 20.20%. The firm had revenue of $901.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $868.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Wheaton Precious Metals’s quarterly revenue was up 91.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 9th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, March 27th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $178.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $155.64.

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.