Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,354,904 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 47,559 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.73% of Bank of Montreal worth $449,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 5,739 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,581 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,580 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $300,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 34.6% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 623 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of Montreal Stock Down 0.4 %

BMO stock opened at $90.44 on Friday. Bank of Montreal has a 52 week low of $73.98 and a 52 week high of $100.12. The company has a market capitalization of $65.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $85.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by ($0.12). Bank of Montreal had a return on equity of 11.23% and a net margin of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $8.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 26th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 4.97%. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is currently 76.25%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BMO has been the subject of several research reports. TD Securities lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $132.00 to $126.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of 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 assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.