Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) Upgraded at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal (TSE:BMO) (NYSE:BMO) from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has C$161.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, up from their prior price objective of C$133.00.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Cibc World Mkts upgraded Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. National Bankshares upped their price objective on shares of Bank of Montreal from C$127.00 to C$148.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. CIBC raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from C$134.00 to C$150.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from C$147.00 to C$160.00 in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on Bank of Montreal from C$114.00 to C$131.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$135.92.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of TSE:BMO opened at C$140.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of C$102.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.16. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of C$109.02 and a 1-year high of C$147.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of C$136.06 and a 200 day moving average price of C$124.63.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. This is a boost from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.55. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of Montreal

In related news, Director William Darryl White sold 11,376 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$140.79, for a total transaction of C$1,601,592.91. Insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

About Bank of Montreal

Bank of Montreal is a diversified financial-services provider based in North America, operating four business segments: Canadian personal and commercial banking, U.S. P&C banking, wealth management, and capital markets.