Ritholtz Wealth Management Lowers Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

Ritholtz Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 3.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,675 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 367 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $1,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bank of Montreal during the third quarter valued at $226,000. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 54.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $119,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 23.4% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,908 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $353,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 13.5% in the third quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 10,463 shares of the bank’s stock worth $944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Value Partners Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of Montreal by 0.3% in the third quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 760,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,599,000 after buying an additional 2,367 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on BMO. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $134.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of Bank of Montreal from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. TD Securities cut shares of Bank of Montreal from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $119.75.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BMO opened at $93.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market capitalization of $68.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.49, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 1.11. Bank of Montreal has a 12 month low of $73.98 and a 12 month high of $100.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $86.53 and its 200 day moving average is $88.31.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 27th. The bank reported $2.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $8.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.08 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 8.06 EPS for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.08%.

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.