Bank of Nova Scotia Lowers Holdings in Franco-Nevada Corporation $FNV

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its holdings 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 Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 608,736 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,114 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Franco-Nevada were worth $135,457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FNV. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Franco-Nevada by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,216,318 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,828,821,000 after purchasing an additional 129,898 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,560,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,237,510,000 after purchasing an additional 454,175 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Franco-Nevada by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,049,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $901,092,000 after buying an additional 846,950 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Franco-Nevada by 35.2% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,220,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $528,289,000 after buying an additional 838,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Franco-Nevada in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $460,218,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FNV has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Franco-Nevada in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 price target on shares of Franco-Nevada in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Franco-Nevada from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Franco-Nevada from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $256.88.

Franco-Nevada Trading Down 4.6%

Franco-Nevada stock opened at $251.45 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $250.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $219.55. The stock has a market cap of $48.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.45. Franco-Nevada Corporation has a 12-month low of $140.03 and a 12-month high of $285.67.

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, March 10th. The basic materials company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.18. Franco-Nevada had a return on equity of 15.62% and a net margin of 61.01%.The firm had revenue of $597.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $542.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.95 earnings per share. Franco-Nevada’s revenue for the quarter was up 86.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Franco-Nevada Corporation will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Franco-Nevada Increases Dividend

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

Franco-Nevada Profile

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.