Cannell & Spears LLC Sells 85,051 Shares of Franco-Nevada Co. (NYSE:FNV)

Cannell & Spears LLC lowered its position in shares of Franco-Nevada Co. (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) by 33.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 166,209 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 85,051 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Franco-Nevada were worth $19,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Franco-Nevada by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 8,538,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,004,046,000 after purchasing an additional 193,968 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Franco-Nevada by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,799,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $916,540,000 after buying an additional 132,465 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Franco-Nevada by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,366,544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $395,113,000 after purchasing an additional 107,043 shares in the last quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Franco-Nevada by 19.4% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,309,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $411,003,000 after acquiring an additional 537,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Franco-Nevada in the fourth quarter worth $237,643,000. 77.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on FNV. StockNews.com raised shares of Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Franco-Nevada from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. TD Securities cut shares of Franco-Nevada from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $152.00 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Franco-Nevada from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Franco-Nevada from $145.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Franco-Nevada presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $155.50.

Franco-Nevada Stock Performance

Shares of Franco-Nevada stock opened at $155.36 on Monday. Franco-Nevada Co. has a fifty-two week low of $112.70 and a fifty-two week high of $159.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $142.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $130.60. The company has a market cap of $29.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -49.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.78 and a beta of 0.73.

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 10th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.05. Franco-Nevada had a negative net margin of 55.28% and a positive return on equity of 10.55%. The company had revenue of $321.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $304.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Franco-Nevada Co. will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Franco-Nevada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This is a boost from Franco-Nevada’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Franco-Nevada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.15%.

About Franco-Nevada

Franco-Nevada Corporation operates as a gold-focused royalty and streaming company in South America, Central America, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Mining and Energy segments. The company manages its portfolio with a focus on precious metals, such as gold, silver, and platinum group metals; and engages in the sale of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids through a third-party marketing agent.