Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV – Get Rating) (TSE:FNV) in a research note published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James reduced their price target on shares of Franco-Nevada from $167.00 to $158.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus downgraded shares of Franco-Nevada from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, January 20th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Franco-Nevada from $111.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, January 30th. CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Franco-Nevada from C$230.00 to C$240.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th. Finally, National Bank Financial upped their price objective on shares of Franco-Nevada from C$190.00 to C$200.00 in a research note on Friday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $166.43.

Franco-Nevada Trading Up 4.9 %

FNV stock opened at $143.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $27.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.32, a P/E/G ratio of 9.92 and a beta of 0.69. Franco-Nevada has a 52 week low of $109.70 and a 52 week high of $169.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $138.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $132.65.

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV – Get Rating) (TSE:FNV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 15th. The basic materials company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.01. Franco-Nevada had a net margin of 53.25% and a return on equity of 11.12%. The company had revenue of $320.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $307.88 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Franco-Nevada will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Franco-Nevada Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Franco-Nevada’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.32. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 15th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. Franco-Nevada’s dividend payout ratio is 37.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franco-Nevada

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FNV. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 3.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 386,741 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $61,693,000 after acquiring an additional 12,446 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 10.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 1,995 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $318,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 23.1% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 69,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,035,000 after acquiring an additional 12,993 shares in the last quarter. Aviva PLC increased its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 5.8% in the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 62,996 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,040,000 after acquiring an additional 3,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 2.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,358,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,014,271,000 after acquiring an additional 141,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.69% of the company’s stock.

About Franco-Nevada

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Franco-Nevada Corp. engages in the management of gold-focused royalties and streams portfolio. It provides investors with gold price and exploration optionality while limiting exposure to many of the risks of operating companies. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.