Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) Short Interest Update

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (NYSE:WPM) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,130,000 shares, a drop of 61.5% from the November 15th total of 8,120,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,690,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days. Currently, 0.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WPM. National Bank Financial upgraded Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Raymond James upped their price target on Wheaton Precious Metals from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Wheaton Precious Metals from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Stifel Canada cut shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, TD Securities increased 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Wheaton Precious Metals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC purchased a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals in the third quarter worth approximately $48,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 200.9% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 1,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 701 shares during the last quarter. 70.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Performance

Shares of WPM traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $60.56. 1,418,596 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,766,510. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.99 and its 200-day moving average is $59.79. Wheaton Precious Metals has a fifty-two week low of $38.57 and a fifty-two week high of $68.64. The company has a market cap of $27.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.75.

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.34. The firm had revenue of $308.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $324.57 million. Wheaton Precious Metals had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 8.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Wheaton Precious Metals will post 1.44 EPS for the current year.

Wheaton Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a $0.155 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. Wheaton Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.