OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Invests $2.78 Million in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. $WPM

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 21,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,782,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,079,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,242,969,000 after purchasing an additional 289,939 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,469,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,700,517,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402,092 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,650,000 after purchasing an additional 93,599 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth about $864,977,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,598,000 after buying an additional 33,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on WPM shares. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $163.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Wheaton Precious Metals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.55.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

WPM opened at $109.47 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $116.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.53. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 1 year low of $90.39 and a 1 year high of $165.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.72 billion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.55.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $901.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $868.35 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 65.55% and a return on equity of 20.20%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue was up 91.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 4.73 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.195 per share. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.70%.

About Wheaton Precious Metals

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.