Norges Bank Invests $472.65 Million in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,407,652 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $472,648,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.85% of Wheaton Precious Metals as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,534,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,154,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,999 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,672,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $994,733,000 after buying an additional 281,123 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $402,627,000 after acquiring an additional 629,743 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 2,931,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,853,000 after acquiring an additional 177,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 21.3% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,923,402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $178,551,000 after acquiring an additional 513,890 shares during the period. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of WPM stock opened at $76.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.75. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a one year low of $47.02 and a one year high of $77.86.

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

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 positive change from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Canada raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wheaton Precious Metals has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.44.

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.