Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Purchased by Mutual Advisors LLC

Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 58.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,118 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,411 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $1,879,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BMO. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 38.0% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,069,787 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,318,457,000 after buying an additional 3,874,573 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new position in shares of Bank of Montreal in the 1st quarter valued at about $307,237,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 138.4% during the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 4,851,629 shares of the bank’s stock worth $407,282,000 after acquiring an additional 2,816,385 shares in the last quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd lifted its stake 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 worth $439,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,412,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Bank of Montreal by 19.7% in the first quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,848,396 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $668,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128,281 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. TD Securities downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO stock opened at $91.11 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $88.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.47 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. Bank of Montreal has a 52-week low of $74.48 and a 52-week high of $100.12.

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). Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $1.123 dividend. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is 72.13%.

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.