Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. Has $357,000 Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. reduced its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 23.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,675 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,097 shares during the period. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,494,749 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,960,491,000 after buying an additional 576,744 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,615,141 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,709,215,000 after acquiring an additional 486,984 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth $1,014,633,000. Beutel Goodman & Co Ltd. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 11.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,208,431 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $505,643,000 after purchasing an additional 161,710 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cibc World Mkts downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. CIBC cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $95.20 on Wednesday. Bank of Montreal has a twelve month low of $76.98 and a twelve month high of $106.00. The company has a market cap of $68.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $95.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $96.43. 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 (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $1.36. The business 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%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.56 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be given a dividend of $1.1094 per share. This represents a $4.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 29th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.35%.

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.