FORA Capital LLC Buys 10,606 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

FORA Capital LLC increased its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 157.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,359 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,606 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $1,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 47.9% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 8,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,397,000 after purchasing an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $432,823,000 after acquiring an additional 114,909 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BMO. Scotiabank cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. TD Securities cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $95.00 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.29. The company has a market capitalization of $69.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.37 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal 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.