Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. $WPM Shares Purchased by Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd

Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 67,875 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,362 shares during the quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $7,606,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 1st quarter worth about $331,000. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 11,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 1st quarter worth about $209,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 2nd quarter worth about $239,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 3.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,554,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,668,582,000 after purchasing an additional 557,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WPM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research downgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $145.18.

Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Down 5.7%

Shares of NYSE:WPM opened at $114.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $143.36 and a 200-day moving average of $120.50. The firm has a market cap of $51.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.50. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a twelve month low of $68.03 and a twelve month high of $165.76.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.31. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 63.58% and a return on equity of 17.17%. The business had revenue of $864.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $719.59 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 127.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.195 per share. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s payout ratio is 20.37%.

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.