Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Stock Position Raised by Axa S.A.

Axa S.A. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 1,448.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 113,992 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 106,632 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $9,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BMO. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 138.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 9,872,642 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $976,870,000 after acquiring an additional 5,729,145 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 38.0% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,069,787 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,318,457,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874,573 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors bought a new stake in Bank of Montreal in the first quarter worth $307,237,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 138.4% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock worth $407,282,000 after buying an additional 2,816,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd raised its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 36.9% during the second quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $439,705,000 after buying an additional 1,412,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. TD Securities downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

NYSE BMO opened at $90.44 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $85.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $65.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $73.98 and a 52-week high of $100.12.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.97%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.25%.

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.