Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE:WPM) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on WPM. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Wheaton Precious Metals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Wheaton Precious Metals from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $115.00 to $130.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Wheaton Precious Metals in a report on Monday, December 29th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.44.

Wheaton Precious Metals Stock Down 0.5%

WPM traded down $0.77 during trading on Thursday, reaching $147.06. 2,001,631 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,980,782. The company has a market capitalization of $66.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.85, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $140.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $117.50. Wheaton Precious Metals has a fifty-two week low of $68.03 and a fifty-two week high of $165.76.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wheaton Precious Metals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WPM. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,079,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,242,969,000 after buying an additional 289,939 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 14,469,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,517,000 after buying an additional 1,402,092 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Wheaton Precious Metals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 7,595,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $892,650,000 after buying an additional 93,599 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Wheaton Precious Metals during the 4th quarter worth about $864,977,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Wheaton Precious Metals by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 7,285,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $857,598,000 after acquiring an additional 33,221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.34% of the company’s stock.

About Wheaton Precious Metals

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. is a Canada-based precious metals streaming company that acquires and manages long-term purchase agreements for metals produced by mining companies. Rather than operating mines, Wheaton provides upfront and ongoing financing to miners in exchange for the right to purchase a portion of the metals produced — typically silver and gold, and occasionally other precious metals — at predetermined prices. This streaming business model offers investors exposure to metal production with reduced operating and capital-cost risk compared with traditional mining companies.

The company’s activities center on structuring and maintaining a diversified portfolio of streaming agreements across multiple jurisdictions.