Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC raised Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of Montreal presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $102.71 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $74.86 billion, a PE ratio of 14.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $99.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $76.98 and a 12 month high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The business had revenue of $9.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.18%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of Montreal

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 179.5% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 313 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 282.8% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.