Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Upgraded by Royal Bank of Canada to “Outperform” Rating

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. They currently have C$161.00 price target on the bank’s stock, up from their previous price target of C$133.00.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BMO. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Bank of Montreal from C$143.00 to C$148.00 in a research note on Friday, December 6th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$114.00 to C$131.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from C$147.00 to C$160.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from C$134.00 to C$150.00 in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$135.92.

Bank of Montreal Trading Up 1.7 %

TSE BMO opened at C$141.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of C$103.25 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is C$135.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is C$124.40. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of C$109.02 and a 12 month high of C$147.54.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 26th will be paid a $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

Insider Activity at Bank of Montreal

In other news, Director William Darryl White sold 11,376 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$140.79, for a total value of C$1,601,592.91. 0.03% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.