Empower Advisory Group LLC Takes $217,000 Position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Empower Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the third quarter worth $113,017,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 593.5% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,608,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,231 shares in the last quarter. Barings LLC acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $65,405,000. TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 22.5% in the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 5,950,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $311,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 16.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,309,175 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,307 shares in the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WPM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $66.50 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. TD Securities lifted their target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Raymond James increased their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. National Bank Financial upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.88.

Wheaton Precious Metals Price Performance

Wheaton Precious Metals stock opened at $58.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $26.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.77. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 12 month low of $38.57 and a 12 month high of $68.64. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.76 and its 200-day moving average is $58.79.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The business had revenue of $308.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.57 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.155 dividend. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.27%.

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.