Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $228.00 price objective on shares of Franco-Nevada in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $310.00 target price on shares of Franco-Nevada in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Franco-Nevada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of Franco-Nevada from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Franco-Nevada from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.25.

Franco-Nevada Stock Performance

FNV opened at $255.48 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $49.26 billion, a PE ratio of 44.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $251.76 and a 200-day moving average of $223.64. Franco-Nevada has a 52-week low of $140.03 and a 52-week high of $285.67.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franco-Nevada

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Franco-Nevada by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,330,234 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,726,741,000 after buying an additional 113,916 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Franco-Nevada by 12.8% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,441,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,542,402,000 after buying an additional 842,132 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Franco-Nevada by 8.9% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,560,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,237,510,000 after buying an additional 454,175 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Franco-Nevada by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,123,444 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,062,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Franco-Nevada by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,808,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $582,177,000 after acquiring an additional 260,793 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.06% of the company’s stock.

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.