First Affirmative Financial Network Cuts Stake in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

First Affirmative Financial Network cut its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,096 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 390 shares during the quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMO. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $383,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074,389 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,065,474,000 after buying an additional 1,534,508 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of Montreal during the fourth quarter worth $760,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Bank of Montreal by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $455,397,000 after acquiring an additional 625,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of Montreal by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,321,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $303,130,000 after acquiring an additional 307,466 shares during the period. 45.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Bank of Montreal Price Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $99.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $97.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.57. Bank of Montreal has a 1-year low of $76.98 and a 1-year high of $104.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.70 billion, a PE ratio of 14.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.09.

Bank of Montreal Increases Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 30th. This is an increase from Bank of Montreal’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.12. Bank of Montreal’s payout ratio is presently 63.18%.

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.