Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) Sets New 52-Week High After Dividend Announcement

Shares of Franco-Nevada Corporation (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $266.61 and last traded at $259.5420, with a volume of 1436353 shares. The stock had previously closed at $255.75.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 12th will be paid a $0.44 dividend. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Franco-Nevada’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 12th. Franco-Nevada’s payout ratio is presently 31.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FNV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Franco-Nevada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $250.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 10th. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Franco-Nevada from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Franco-Nevada from $225.00 to $283.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Franco-Nevada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $240.00.

Franco-Nevada Stock Up 1.5%

The firm has a market capitalization of $50.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $216.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.75.

Franco-Nevada (NYSE:FNV) (TSE:FNV) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The basic materials company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.06. Franco-Nevada had a return on equity of 13.94% and a net margin of 59.48%.The firm had revenue of $487.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $448.51 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 76.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Franco-Nevada Corporation will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Franco-Nevada

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Franco-Nevada in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $460,218,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Franco-Nevada by 76.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,363,324 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,509 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Franco-Nevada by 26.4% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 4,049,187 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $901,092,000 after acquiring an additional 846,950 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $528,289,000 after acquiring an additional 838,853 shares during the period. Finally, Picton Mahoney Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Franco-Nevada during the second quarter worth $80,621,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.