Amundi Grows Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Amundi raised its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 29.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 738,167 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 166,062 shares during the period. Amundi owned about 0.10% of Bank of Montreal worth $72,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth about $4,270,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 151.7% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 24,321 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,360,000 after acquiring an additional 14,658 shares during the last quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 356,924 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $34,606,000 after purchasing an additional 142,854 shares during the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of Montreal in the 4th quarter valued at about $229,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,641 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $839,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $95.39 on Wednesday. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $76.98 and a 52 week high of $106.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $99.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market cap of $69.52 billion, a PE ratio of 13.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.09%.

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.