Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $128.40.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BMO shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Scotiabank upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. CIBC upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BMO opened at $97.34 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $99.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $95.58. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.56 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a $1.1094 dividend. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.09%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of Montreal

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BMO. Avant Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 29.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 162,503 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,768,000 after purchasing an additional 36,931 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $346,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,215,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,184,636,000 after buying an additional 1,630,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,958 shares of the bank’s stock worth $772,000 after buying an additional 2,481 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Bank of Montreal

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.