Franco-Nevada Corporation $FNV Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia trimmed its position in shares of Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 608,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,114 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.32% of Franco-Nevada worth $135,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Franco-Nevada during the second quarter worth $32,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Franco-Nevada by 600.0% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its holdings in Franco-Nevada by 590.9% in the second quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 228 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Franco-Nevada in the 3rd quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Franco-Nevada by 150.0% during the 3rd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 250 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. 77.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Franco-Nevada from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of Franco-Nevada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Franco-Nevada from $225.00 to $283.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Franco-Nevada currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $256.88.

Franco-Nevada Trading Down 4.6%

Shares of FNV opened at $251.45 on Friday. Franco-Nevada Corporation has a 12-month low of $140.03 and a 12-month high of $285.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $250.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $219.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.45.

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $597.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $542.02 million. Franco-Nevada had a net margin of 61.01% and a return on equity of 15.62%. Franco-Nevada’s revenue was up 86.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.95 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Franco-Nevada Corporation will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franco-Nevada Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 12th. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is an increase from Franco-Nevada’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. Franco-Nevada’s payout ratio is 30.56%.

About Franco-Nevada

Franco-Nevada Corporation is a Toronto-based royalty and streaming company that specializes in securing and managing long-term interests in mining properties. The firm focuses primarily on precious metals, particularly gold, while also holding interests related to silver, copper, platinum-group metals and select base metals. Rather than operating mines directly, Franco-Nevada acquires royalty and streaming agreements that entitle it to a percentage of production or revenue from producing and developing assets in exchange for upfront or staged financing.

The company’s business model centers on providing capital to mining companies in return for a sustained share of production or metal revenue, which can reduce exposure to operating and capital cost risks typical of mine operators.