Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 112,671 Shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA trimmed its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,118,720 shares of the company’s stock after selling 112,671 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 1.57% of Wheaton Precious Metals worth $400,357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals during the fourth quarter valued at about $472,648,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $72,657,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 20,534,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,999 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Wheaton Precious Metals by 33.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,664,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,134,000 after purchasing an additional 661,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $402,627,000 after purchasing an additional 629,743 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WPM. Stifel Canada raised shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Wheaton Precious Metals from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.44.

Wheaton Precious Metals Trading Up 1.2 %

WPM opened at $77.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.02, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.12. Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. has a 12-month low of $49.11 and a 12-month high of $78.05.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $380.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $395.74 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 50.05%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. will post 1.46 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Increases Dividend

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

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.