Franco-Nevada Corporation $FNV Shares Sold by Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.

Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. decreased its position in Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) by 2.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 122,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Franco-Nevada were worth $30,313,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FNV. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 112.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 121 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Franco-Nevada in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Burkett Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Franco-Nevada in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Private Trust Co. NA acquired a new position in Franco-Nevada in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Franco-Nevada by 600.0% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. 77.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Franco-Nevada Stock Performance

Shares of FNV opened at $200.31 on Tuesday. Franco-Nevada Corporation has a 1 year low of $152.89 and a 1 year high of $285.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.63 billion, a PE ratio of 28.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $220.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $236.98.

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 12th. The basic materials company reported $2.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.09 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $650.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $634.43 million. Franco-Nevada had a return on equity of 18.10% and a net margin of 65.12%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 76.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Franco-Nevada Corporation will post 8.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Franco-Nevada Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were issued a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. Franco-Nevada’s dividend payout ratio is 24.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FNV has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Franco-Nevada from $258.00 to $245.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Zacks Research lowered Franco-Nevada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. TD raised shares of Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $292.00 to $291.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Franco-Nevada from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price objective on shares of Franco-Nevada in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Franco-Nevada presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $275.00.

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.