Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Acquired by Forsta AP Fonden

Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 181,600 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,300 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $16,405,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,795,402,000 after acquiring an additional 544,767 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,231,564,000 after buying an additional 692,049 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 6.8% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 7,312,320 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $613,138,000 after buying an additional 463,924 shares during the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 36.9% in the second quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $439,705,000 after buying an additional 1,412,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 138.4% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $407,282,000 after buying an additional 2,816,385 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BMO. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. UBS Group began coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Scotiabank lowered Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $92.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.11. The company has a market cap of $67.66 billion, a PE ratio of 15.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $73.98 and a 12-month high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The business had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $1.123 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.08%.

Bank of Montreal Company Profile

Bank of Montreal provides diversified financial services primarily in North America. It operates through Canadian P&C, U.S P&C, BMO Wealth Management, and BMO Capital Markets segments. The company’s personal banking products and services include deposits, mortgages, home lending, consumer credit, small business lending, credit cards, cash management, financial and investment advice, and other banking services; and commercial banking products and services comprise various of financing options and treasury and payment solutions, as well as risk management products.