Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,118,720 shares of the company's stock after selling 112,671 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.57% of Wheaton Precious Metals worth $400,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. purchased a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WPM shares. Scotiabank increased their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $75.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $74.50.

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Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WPM traded down $7.51 on Friday, hitting $70.99. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,043,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,642,919. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.17 and a 200-day moving average of $64.28. The company has a market capitalization of $32.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.98, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $380.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $395.74 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. Wheaton Precious Metals's quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.165 per share. This is an increase from Wheaton Precious Metals's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. Wheaton Precious Metals's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.