First Horizon Advisors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) by 140.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 612 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of Montreal were worth $59,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Bank of Montreal by 14.9% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 11,812,353 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,065,474,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534,508 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 14.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,046,721 shares of the bank’s stock worth $455,397,000 after acquiring an additional 625,797 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 2.5% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 4,793,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $432,823,000 after acquiring an additional 114,909 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 261.6% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,249,552 shares of the bank’s stock worth $383,449,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in Bank of Montreal by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 3,701,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,991,000 after acquiring an additional 248,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.82% of the company’s stock.

Bank of Montreal Stock Performance

Shares of BMO opened at $103.03 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $75.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $99.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.82. Bank of Montreal has a 1 year low of $76.98 and a 1 year high of $106.00.

Bank of Montreal (NYSE:BMO) (TSE:BMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The bank reported $3.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $1.36. The company had revenue of $9.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.58 billion. Bank of Montreal had a net margin of 9.22% and a return on equity of 10.18%. Bank of Montreal’s revenue was up 20.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of Montreal will post 7.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of Montreal Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 29th will be paid a $1.1094 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 29th. This represents a $4.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.31%. Bank of Montreal’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BMO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. CIBC upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Bank of Montreal from $161.00 to $163.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of Bank of Montreal from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $128.40.

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.