Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Lowers Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its position in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 8.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,436 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 231 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of Montreal by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,617,952 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,795,402,000 after buying an additional 544,767 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 19,225,705 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,911,635,000 after purchasing an additional 3,187,998 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.9% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 14,761,836 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,231,564,000 after purchasing an additional 692,049 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised 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 purchasing an additional 5,729,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Bank of Montreal by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 8,874,517 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $880,924,000 after purchasing an additional 548,284 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of Bank of Montreal stock opened at $85.15 on Friday. 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 one year low of $73.98 and a one year high of $100.12. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $88.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.11.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.76 by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $8.21 billion during 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.08 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.123 per share. This represents a $4.49 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.28%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lowered their price target on Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Bank of Montreal in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. StockNews.com cut Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of Montreal presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.75.

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.