Legal & General Group Plc Purchases Shares of 2,853,138 Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. $WPM

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,853,138 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $320,838,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.63% of Wheaton Precious Metals at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WPM. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth about $864,977,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the second quarter worth about $581,250,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the second quarter worth about $310,738,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the second quarter worth approximately $310,372,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 40.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,912,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $694,951,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

WPM stock opened at $163.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.80. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 52 week low of $92.57 and a 52 week high of $165.76. The stock has a market cap of $74.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.47.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 64.66% and a return on equity of 21.97%. The firm had revenue of $878.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $879.29 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 84.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a $0.195 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is 17.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on WPM. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target 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 reduced their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $163.00 to $145.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $182.00 to $177.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $180.00 to $175.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.55.

Wheaton Precious Metals 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.