Private Trust Co. NA Boosts Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Private Trust Co. NA boosted its position in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 246.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 858 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $83,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BMO. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 44.9% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,103 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 190,255 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,760,000 after buying an additional 35,614 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Portfolios Group Inc. now owns 31,812 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after buying an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 20,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,453,718 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $312,054,000 after buying an additional 50,287 shares in the last quarter. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $128.40.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $99.43 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $72.47 billion, a PE ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.07. Bank of Montreal has a 12-month low of $76.98 and a 12-month high of $106.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.38.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.56 earnings per share. Bank of Montreal’s quarterly revenue was up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is presently 57.09%.

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.