Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) Shares Sold by 180 Wealth Advisors LLC

180 Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 8.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,236 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 206 shares during the period. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Bank of Montreal by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 164,531 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,810,000 after purchasing an additional 31,374 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,454 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,321,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,629,370 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,623,000 after acquiring an additional 48,139 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 47.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,974 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,250,000 after acquiring an additional 4,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 36.9% during the 2nd quarter. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd now owns 5,239,662 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,412,532 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BMO. CIBC raised Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $133.00 to $161.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com lowered Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.00.

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

BMO stock opened at $99.15 on Thursday. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $104.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $96.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.44. The firm has a market cap of $72.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.09.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.1329 per share. This represents a $4.53 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 30th. This is a positive change from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.18%.

About Bank of Montreal

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.