Rodgers Brothers Inc. Purchases 17,875 Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Rodgers Brothers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 137.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 30,900 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,875 shares during the period. Rodgers Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $2,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BMO. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 29.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 162,503 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,768,000 after buying an additional 36,931 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 153,570 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,893,000 after acquiring an additional 10,024 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 61.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,640 shares of the bank’s stock worth $752,000 after acquiring an additional 2,897 shares during the period. Intrust Bank NA bought a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Finally, Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. now owns 6,616,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $642,016,000 after purchasing an additional 704,197 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $95.26 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $99.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.97. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $106.00. The firm has a market cap of $69.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 9.22%. Bank of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.