Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,118,720 shares of the company’s stock after selling 112,671 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals were worth $400,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 494.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 696 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 33.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,664,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,134,000 after purchasing an additional 661,913 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 371,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,897,000 after buying an additional 27,423 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 65,178 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,666,000 after buying an additional 4,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $110,000. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

NYSE:WPM opened at $77.75 on Thursday. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 1-year low of $49.11 and a 1-year high of $78.05. The company has a market capitalization of $35.27 billion, a PE ratio of 58.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $69.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.12.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $380.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be issued a $0.165 dividend. This represents a $0.66 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. This is an increase from Wheaton Precious Metals’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s payout ratio is 56.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their price target 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. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $72.44.

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.