Analysts Set Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) PT at $163.00

Shares of Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $163.00.

Several research firms have commented on BMO. CIBC raised shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Bank Of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Bank Of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $168.00 to $163.00 in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank Of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Bank Of Montreal in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th.

Bank Of Montreal Price Performance

Bank Of Montreal stock opened at $124.96 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $123.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.07. Bank Of Montreal has a one year low of $85.40 and a one year high of $131.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $89.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Bank Of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 26th. The bank reported $2.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.21. Bank Of Montreal had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.00%.The firm had revenue of $6.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank Of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank Of Montreal Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This is a boost from Bank Of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.18. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 30th. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.2%. Bank Of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 58.63%.

Institutional Trading of Bank Of Montreal

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State of Wyoming boosted its holdings in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 237.4% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 14,254 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after acquiring an additional 10,029 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in Bank Of Montreal by 66.5% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 3,676,637 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $351,154,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,084 shares during the last quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal by 134.2% during the first quarter. Baskin Financial Services Inc. now owns 7,428 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $709,000 after purchasing an additional 4,256 shares in the last quarter. Code Waechter LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal during the first quarter worth about $282,000. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Bank Of Montreal during the first quarter worth about $1,886,000. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

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.