Aviva PLC Purchases 223,646 Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Aviva PLC increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 389.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 281,097 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 223,646 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $15,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WPM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at $472,648,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter worth about $72,657,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,534,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 33.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,664,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,134,000 after purchasing an additional 661,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,156,818 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,627,000 after purchasing an additional 629,743 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WPM. Stifel Canada upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $74.50.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:WPM opened at $70.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $32.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 12 month low of $49.41 and a 12 month high of $80.43. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $70.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.38.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $380.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $395.74 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. Wheaton Precious Metals’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.165 dividend. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.90%.

Wheaton Precious Metals Profile

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.