Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 809,294 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 166,757 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $40,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WPM. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 87,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after acquiring an additional 5,181 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 496,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,135,000 after buying an additional 17,745 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mechanics Financial Corp now owns 900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 15,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 7,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jeppson Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WPM. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $61.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Berenberg Bank boosted their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. CIBC raised their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, National Bank Financial downgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.32.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $53.56 on Tuesday. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a one year low of $38.37 and a one year high of $54.45. The company has a market cap of $24.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.32 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $46.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $46.50.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 14th. The company reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 52.92% and a return on equity of 7.76%. The firm had revenue of $313.47 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $284.29 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.25 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 3rd were issued a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 2nd. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. This is a boost from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.15. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.10%.

Wheaton Precious Metals Company 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.