Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Acquired by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 207.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 668 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 451 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $56,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Probity Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 12,876 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 34,231 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,088,000 after purchasing an additional 4,918 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 4.9% during the third quarter. Cardinal Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,298,627 shares of the bank’s stock worth $117,326,000 after buying an additional 60,155 shares in the last quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 16.0% during the third quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 387 shares during the period. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal in the third quarter valued at $226,000. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada cut Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Scotiabank downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $123.00 to $112.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, TD Securities cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of BMO opened at $91.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.10. Bank of Montreal has a one year low of $74.48 and a one year high of $100.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $1.123 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $4.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

Bank of Montreal 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.