Advisors Capital Management LLC Cuts Position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Advisors Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,159 shares of the company’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fielder Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 24,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 11,877 shares of the company’s stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 4,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.0% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,208,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,027 shares of the company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WPM shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $79.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.60.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $83.39 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $72.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.13. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $49.71 and a fifty-two week high of $86.12. The firm has a market cap of $37.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The firm had revenue of $380.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $395.74 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were given a $0.165 dividend. This is an increase from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.66 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.90%.

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.