Nuveen LLC Invests $36.89 Million in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 475,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,885,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,996,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,396,556,000 after acquiring an additional 324,340 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,424,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $530,057,000 after acquiring an additional 447,702 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 5.0% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,512,351 shares of the company’s stock worth $582,876,000 after acquiring an additional 355,533 shares during the period. Capital International Investors acquired a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the fourth quarter worth $263,810,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,593,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $202,459,000 after acquiring an additional 137,477 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WPM shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group set a $106.00 price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Berenberg Bank raised their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $87.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.33.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WPM opened at $94.28 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.87. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 52-week low of $55.47 and a 52-week high of $103.81. The firm has a market cap of $42.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.39.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.05. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 47.46% and a return on equity of 11.96%. The business had revenue of $503.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 68.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.165 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.15%.

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.