Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $129.50.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BMO. Scotiabank began coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “sector perform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,997,776 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,960,102,000 after buying an additional 503,027 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.8% in the 4th 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 period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Bank of Montreal by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 12,833,065 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,244,284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,712 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 12,215,628 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,184,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal during the 4th quarter worth $1,014,633,000. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE:BMO opened at $106.94 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $77.22 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.08. Bank of Montreal has a fifty-two week low of $76.98 and a fifty-two week high of $109.10.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The bank reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.84. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 30th will be given a dividend of $1.1801 per share. This represents a $4.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 30th. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.11. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.48%.

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.